After years of injury, 33-year-old mother Eloise Wellings has qualified for her second Olympic Games. She's hoping her success on the track will mean a brighter future for Ugandan women off it.
"I start to get a little bit emotional about that," she says. "I'll just be running along and their faces just pop into my head and I remember why I do it, why I run."
The Sydney-based Wellings helped found the not-for-profit Love Mercy Foundation working in northern parts of the land-locked east African nation.
The organisation's new project is called Cents for Seeds - a micro-loan farming program empowering Ugandan women.
"Thirty dollars will sponsor a woman in Uganda to go through the program," Wellings explains. "She receives 30 kilograms of seeds. And she goes and grows and harvests those seeds and out of that she averages between 150 to 300 kilos of food."
The women return 30 kg of seeds back to Love Mercy to be loaned out to others. Most then sell the remainder at their local market, feed their family and buy medication and school supplies.
Caitlin Barrett, the foundation's chief executive, says Wellings' public profile is integral to their goal this year of reaching over 6,000 women in one of the world's poorest nations.
"I know that as Eloise's colleague and as her friend that that's the motivation behind her running career," Ms Barrett says. "The reason she runs is to bring awareness to our projects and our programs and that's her motivation for training every day and for leaving it all out on the track."
As the first mother named in this year's Rio Games team, Wellings has a lot on her plate when combined with her humanitarian work and training schedule.
As a 5,000m and 10,000m specialist, every week she runs the equivalent of about three marathons.
Wellings says making the London 2012 team was a dream come true. Her approach this time around - in a word: fearless.
"We're definitely going to be taking more risks that we were in London. London was about having the experience, actually becoming an Olympian and finally after so much heartbreak and set back. And Rio is about trying to get the best out of myself and trying to give an out of my skin performance and to do that we need to take measured risks," she says.
Wellings' aim for the Rio Games is a top eight finish. A lofty goal, she says, even if she's chasing a dream in Uganda greater than any Olympic Games.
