This time the competition was a 5k running race. Fortunately for us, this was quite a bit lower maintenance than football, as it did not require construction of new facilities or oversight of 18 games. It still required some work, but this time it wasn’t as much, and we had the help of Titus, so we weren’t completely drained at the end of the day. So rather than tell a whole bunch of details about the race, I’ll just tell two little stories.
Story 1: The first race of the day was for the Primary 1-4 students, or “the little ones”, as some of them refer to themselves. (Quoting little Edwin, on most days that we run: “Will you be running with the little ones today?” [And if the answer is yes, then one of us gets the joy of holding his hand for the entire run, which has a cuteness that I think will never grow old.]) They were doing a course that was about 1.5 kilometers, but of course when Jonathan blew the start whistle, almost every single kid started out in a drop-dead sprint. I was going to run with them to play sweeper and make sure no one got left behind or lost, but 50 yards down the road, little 8-year-old Jimmy tripped on someone’s foot and went face down onto the dirt, hard. Then several people behind him actually stepped on him as they ran past. He rose back up to his feet in full sobs, with one knee and one elbow bleeding. Between sobs, he said that he wanted to keep going, so he got up and we followed the others. But after going for about 10 minutes, I realized that we had taken a wrong turn, and by this time, the emotional and physical fatigue had set in for Jimmy, so we turned around and started walking home, with the occasional tear rolling down his cheek. When we got back to the start, we found little Mary also crying, having taken a similar spill right as she crossed the finish line. We went back to our room to dress the wounds, and 30 minutes, 15 band-aids, and 4 biscuits (cookies) later, they seemed to be doing a lot better. It made us all very happy that these two were both on Team Lioness of Jonathan’s House Nile, which won the Primary 1-4 competition, and were therefore awarded a pack of Bubblicious at the end of the day.
Story 2: Actually the second “story” is just a recap of a conversation that determined the outcome of the Secondary Boys’ race. (Here is some information that will help to put he conversation in context: Eleven Tigers is for Jonathan’s House Nile; Invincible United is part of my House Euphrates. Christopher Ewoi is the fastest runner here at Tumaini, and is part of Eleven Tigers.)
Me (to Jonathan, sitting inside our apartment at lunch): “Ewoi told me that he isn’t going to run today because he’s tired.”
Jonathan: “What?!!!”
Jonathan (getting up and going to the door after hearing Ewoi’s voice outside): “Ewoi! Come over here!... What’s this about you not racing today?”
Ewoi: “I’m so tired. I don’t think I can race today”
Jonathan: “Eleven Tigers needs you! You have to race!”
Ewoi: “I’m so tired.”
Sammy (of Invincible United, overhearing their conversation, and perfectly aware of the humor in what he is saying): “Ewoi, it’s okay. If you feel tired then you shouldn’t run.”
Ewoi (in a tone reminiscent of Markus Rogan): “Sammy, just because you said that, I’m going to race.”
(If you’re wondering about the outcome of Ewoi’s decision, well, he won by almost 2 minutes: 17:52 over 5.1 hilly kilometers of rocky, ankle-turning ground, or 5:38 per mile. For reference, I ran well and did 20:05. Ewoi is getting really fast!)
Here are some pictures of the day’s activities. Joseph Waiganjo (Form 4 leaver and really nice guy) took my camera and was the photographer for the day:
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| Tumaini 5k! |
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