Palpable excitement and nervous anticipation crammed the early morning air on February 21st at St. Peter’s Primary School. This was the day that two fun runs (affectionately known as the Mukozi Marathons) would take place. Stephen A., a British engineer from Thailand, organized this popular event with the active support of all the school staff. The first run (for 5-7 year old pupils) was a 300m dash from Mukozi village to the school. The second run was open to all remaining age groups and involved doing a hill loop from the school to the village, up a steep dirt path to the top road and then down to the lake road and back to the school. After the runs, an awards ceremony was held to both celebrate and support the children’s wellbeing. Here is some of Stephen’s description of the event in his own words:
The pupils welcomed me at 8:50 am with a heart-warming song before I jogged with the chosen young kids to the village starting line. The kids were really excited, all jostling to get to the front, several coughing from colds, many carrying shoes or barefoot. Cheered by the watching villagers, the runners set off fast along the winding lake road back to school. Waiting at the finish line were teachers armed with 20 XS-size running shirts for the first 20 finishers. Other parents, teachers and onlookers together with a drummer made a loud cheer for all runners.
The main event was prepared with four waves of runners with youngest at the front, oldest at back. After stretches as warm up, I reminded particularly the elder runners to be careful when passing smaller kids, and that rather than running past any fallen runner, a good citizen would stop to help pick them up. The starting bell rang releasing each wave sprinting down the dirt road. We had teachers guiding traffic at junctions and one was a sweeper to accompany the last runners back. The climb up the broken path got the heart racing and thighs burning as runners jostled for position. The narrow path was made even more of a challenge by gullies on each side and a couple of goats wondering what had hit them! As each runner reached the peak at the hill road it was all fast downhill and back along the lake road, through the village and finishing to a raucous cheer and drumming at the school. More shirts were handed out to the first finishers, boy & girl of each age category. Bottled water was also shared around.
As everyone gathered around for the awards, I noticed several grazed knees which I tried to wash off with water and I asked for a show of hands how many had fallen over and then how many had stopped to lift the fallen. Little gifts were handed to those who helped the fallen to encourage the gesture of selfless kindness and to reinforce the notion that those who do not get on the winners’ podium of life can still be winners.
For both races the top boy & girl winners got medals and the overall winner of the main race (a 15-yr-old boy) was awarded the champion’s trophy. Then 14 blankets were awarded to pupils carefully selected by a teacher committee as fulfilling the criteria of:
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- Most-improved (studies);
- Kind, considerate, helpful, stoic, diligent;
- From particularly challenging backgrounds (orphans, poverty etc).
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The event closed with lots of photos taken with the students. Stephen gave out some pencils and exercise books and asked all pupils to cheer hooray for their teachers, and, on getting home, to also thank their hard-working parents. In his final remarks, Stephen wrote:
Both before and after the event it was heart-warming to receive the waves, high-5’s and “good mornings” from everyone all along the road. With no electric, running water, glass windows and only backyard latrines, no homework can be done after sunset and 5 yr olds fetching a jerrycan of well water down a steep path every day, it is indeed a tough life for all.
The students, their parents, and the dedicated staff of St. Peter’s Primary School wish to thank and congratulate Stephen A. for his tireless efforts in making this much anticipated event a great and memorable success. Everyone looks forward to your return and to future Mukozi Marathons.
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