Serving in a region where15 of our 19 countries are touched by conflict takes a toll, but MENAUM staff have found a fun way to fight back.
Serving in a region where fifteen of our nineteen countries are touched by conflict takes a toll — but MENAUM staff have found a fun way to fight back.
Roseane Alonso, MENAUM missionary care coordinator, had an idea — and Mark Haddad, MENAUM treasurer, had a reason to take it seriously. After suffering a heart attack while working in Egypt, Haddad became more aware and concerned about the physical health of workers across the region.
Cindy Porto, MENAUM Health Ministries director, and Yesneth Alvarez, assistant director, went to work. They wanted something that wouldn't feel like another burden or challenge to manage — something fun, something life-giving.
They landed on steps.
MENAUM Moves launched as a simple steps challenge using a free app — all you needed was a phone or a watch. Within days, people were walking everywhere: to meetings, around campus, up staircases they'd ignored for years. A spirit of friendly competition took hold, bringing humor and momentum nobody had to manufacture.
When the first challenge wrapped, participants had logged 13.7 million steps — enough to walk from Beirut to the Adventist world headquarters in Maryland, with miles left for sightseeing. They burned the caloric equivalent of 300 pizzas. More than 82 percent stayed active for over ten consecutive days. At least five reported losing weight. Others said they were sleeping better, feeling stronger, motivated to tackle other changes they'd been putting off.
An awards celebration at staff worship, followed by an abundant breakfast, brought everyone together to mark what they had accomplished.
MENAUM Moves 2.0 is now underway, running through October, and participation is already breaking records. The new logo — a playful riff on MENAU’s five-year theme, Go Forward! that presented Moses running with tennis shows towards the Red Sea — drew its own round of laughs at the reveal. Interest has spread beyond the union building, and other entities are already talking about starting their own challenges.
Cindy and Yesneth are delighted to find that getting healthy has become so enjoyable that participants are promoting the challenge themselves — no prompting needed.