Australian activist Mina Guli, who seeks to highlight global water shortages, has arrived in South Africa as part of her #RunningDry 100 marathons in 100 days.

Guli is the founder of the non-profit group Thirst, which is focused on teaching the youth in China about sustainable water consumption.

However, the 48-year-old ultra-runner, who is halfway through her campaign, has injured herself. During a recent visit to the doctor, a MRI scan revealed that she has sustained a stress fracture to her right femur.

Despite the injury, Guli remains determined to complete the #RunningDry campaign, albeit at the "slightly lower pace of a walk".

“With the current water crisis, every drop counts - and now every step I take towards finishing this campaign will help highlight that," she said.

“The world is facing a projected 40% shortfall between supply and demand for water by 2030 – just 11 short years from now. If I give up now, it’s almost like giving up on striving towards a solution to this problem and I just can’t do it."

Initially, Guli would have spent roughly five hours on the road every day. Now, with her injury slowing her down, she is giving herself approximately nine hours every day to complete each marathon.

Guli started her ambitious campaign on 4 November at the New York Marathon. It has already taken her through Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

She arrived in Cape Town on 27 December to start marathon number 54.

When she arrived in the country, Guli headed straight to the drought-stricken Beaufort West municipality in the Western Cape.

“Visiting the town of Beaufort West has been very confronting, to see the effects of living with no water in the flesh makes me even more determined to finish my #RunningDry campaign and help change the way we think about water," she said.

“We simply cannot take water for granted. Water is life, it is critical. We need to respect and value it." 

Guli said her efforts were a "call to the world to join together to save water”.

“The water we need to live, to survive, is running out. We’re calling this #RunningDry because we need to bring home the severity of the crisis we are facing.

"It is for this reason that I have chosen to do the unthinkable: running, and now walking, 100 marathons in 100 days around the world to show what a 100% commitment to water looks like," she said.

"We can all help solve the world’s water crisis. Each one of us is able to make a difference.” 

-TMG Digital