The end of swimming for 9 months finally came last week! And donations continued to arrive past my September 10th goal. Here are some of the stats swirling in my head as I consider all that’s been given to Living Vine Mental Health Ministries through my 40 mile swim:

• Over 60 20-minute round trips to the pool or lake
• Total equivalent of 1,760 laps in the 20-yard pool
• Around 35 hours of swimming
• Almost that many of pre-swim stretching or yoga to keep my body going
• NO laps kickboarding (this was my game plan for injuries)
• Shout out to the new-to-me butterfly stroke: 10% of my laps for an extra challenge
• My lap-loathing big sister rounded up a few more donors with a one-lap-per-donation challenge
• 26 donors
• 5 of those gave at or above $1,000
• $8,285.33 raised!!

I am so grateful and humbled to know that friends and family have entrusted their hard-earned and -saved funds with Living Vine. Living Vine to us here in the US is about as small as our knowledge of Cameroon itself. But in the city of Bamenda and its surrounding rainforest, Living Vine is a big deal–a life-altering resource for real people under the stress in a now-tumultuous place to call home: 

• When family members struggle with or reach rock bottom of addiction or mental health issues, Living Vine is there 24/7 for support and recovery. 
• Those with a calling to join this cause have a place to be trained in affordable accredited programs, immersed in real-life experience in the clinic. 
• And this year, in 2025, Cameroonians who are reaching their financial end because they don’t have the skills to find practical work can enroll in a career pathway that will lead them off the streets and lift their spirits so they don’t turn to substance abuse or despair.

Thank you for joining me on this journey. This January, I was so uncertain I could do it that I swam the first 3-4 months without any announcement except with the Board. I grew stronger and I kept on swimming.

We’ll continue to post the progress on this page and e-newsletters. We want YOU to see the results like we the Board get to! Spoiler alert: We have a LIVE grounds tour in the works for January 2026, including a Q & A time. We hope you can join us.

Blessings,

Jennifer Trocke