An award-winning Zimbabwean athlete has run 160 kilometers (about 86 miles) to raise funds for the completion of a Seventh-day Adventist church in Beitbridge that has stood unfinished for over a decade.

Emmanuel Mandeya, a two-time Comrades Marathon finisher and a member of the Avondale Athletics Club, embarked on the endurance run on July 26, 2026, setting off from a point roughly 21 kilometers (about 13 miles) past Rutenga. The initiative was launched under the theme "Running with Purpose," with a fundraising target of US$12,000.

Mandeya said the approaching rainy season had pushed him to act.

"We are approaching the rainy season, and I thought to myself I should do something about our church," Mandeya said. "Running is what God gave me, so why not use it?"

The Eastlea Seventh-day Adventist Church, part of the South Zimbabwe Conference, began construction in 2013 but has remained incomplete for more than a decade. During rainy seasons, congregants worship at a nearby government primary school. The distance to the fallback venue has discouraged some members from attending, and others stay home when the weather turns.

The fundraising campaign has begun to gain traction. Eastlea Seventh-day Adventist Church Building Committee member Nokuthula Ngwenya said the response has been encouraging.

"So far we have raised about US$2,500, and more pledges are still coming in," Ngwenya said. "Today alone, we received a US$1,000 pledge from Adventists in the diaspora who saw the flyer. The Avondale Athletics Club, where Emmanuel is a member, is also mobilizing support. We are hopeful that we will soon be able to put up the roof."

Local pastor Petros Muleya described the initiative as a powerful witness of personal sacrifice for the work of the Church.

"This is a good initiative that encourages self-sacrifice for the work of God," Muleya said. "If someone can put his life on the line for God's work, then we also ought to do our part."

Mandeya's fundraising will be allocated to finishing the roof, windows, flooring, and other essential work that would allow the congregation to worship in their own sanctuary for the first time.

The athlete is no stranger to endurance racing. He has finished the Comrades Marathon (an Ultramarathon) in South Africa twice, earning a Bill Rowan medal, awarded to runners who complete the race in under nine hours, and has participated in numerous marathons over the years, earning recognition as one of Zimbabwe's accomplished distance runners.

The original article was published on the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division news site.