Swimmer Completes Tenerife-La Gomera Crossing for Nepal Children's Charity

Christian Jongeneel, a 51-year-old swimmer from Malaga, has swum the 40 kilometers between Tenerife and La Gomera to raise money for children in Nepal.

He completed the swim on Tuesday afternoon, October 14th, after a tough ten-hour journey battling strong currents and the rough open sea. He even did it without a wetsuit!

"It's difficult, and even though you have a support boat, you can feel very alone," said Christian. "But I feel like I'm accompanied by everyone who supports the cause I'm doing this for."

Jongeneel had planned to swim from San Juan beach in Tenerife to Puerto Santiago in La Gomera and back – a total of 80 kilometers. However, he had to stop the return journey due to bad sea conditions. He considers it "a triumph, not a failure" because the main goal is to raise money for charity.

By Wednesday, September 15th, he had already raised 86% of his target, with €6,000 of the €7,000 goal achieved. He's likely to reach his target very soon. Donations can be made through his website, Brazadas Solidarias (Solidarity Strokes).

All the money raised will go towards helping children in Nepal go to school, especially in rural areas where the distance to schools makes it difficult for families.

The projects are run by the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, which has been working in India for over 40 years and has recently started working in Nepal, a country still recovering from the devastating 2015 earthquake.

Jongeneel, an engineer who used to work for the Andalusian government, now dedicates himself to the Vicente Ferrer Foundation. He regularly takes on open water swimming challenges around the world for charitable causes.

He calls his passion "wild swimming." This year, he has already completed 27 swims in Spain, mainly in Andalusia, but also in Catalonia, Murcia, and the Basque Country. He has achieved impressive feats, including swimming the English Channel, the Strait of Gibraltar (both ways), the Cook Strait (which separates the two main islands of New Zealand and is known for being very challenging), around Manhattan Island, and around the island of Hawaii.

Jongeneel says he started swimming as a child and has been doing these crossings for 20 years. On Tuesday, he finished the Tenerife-La Gomera swim in a cove near Puerto Santiago, where he decided it was too dangerous to return to Tenerife.

On Wednesday, back in Tenerife, he was recovering from the huge effort. "I'm very happy because we've taken another step towards funding the Vicente Ferrer Foundation's work," he said.

The Vicente Ferrer Foundation supports seven schools in Nepal, providing preschool children (aged 3-6) with food, clothing, and care while their parents work as seasonal laborers. Without this support, the children would likely have to work with their parents. The foundation is named after Vicente Ferrer, a Spanish philanthropist known for his dedication to helping disadvantaged people in the developing world.