Wednesday 13 June 2007

The men'€™s team began the day early with a thank-you ceremony for Ross, Debbie and Sam at the Riverside Caravan & Cabin Park in Eaton, where they had spent the previous night.

For the women, Day Two of this World Harmony Run kicked off with eagerness, enthusiasm and cheerfulness - in short, everything you would expect after having the spent the night in luxury accommodation. I'€™ll always have a special fondness for the word '€˜chalet'€™ after this.

However, even the greenest of Harmony Runners (myself being one of them) knows that misreading perfectly explicit maps and getting your team hopelessly lost can be as much a part of the experience as lighting the Harmony torch and bounding jauntily onto a stage in front of 700 excited primary school children.

This morning, despite the iron-clad resolutions of all team members to '€œknow the map'€ and '€œconcentrate on where we are going,''€ the women'€™s team managed to get off to a very, er, diverted start, involving an upside-down map, changing coastlines and a rogue highway. Our planned 10km run was narrowed down to 0km as we frantically struggled to make the school ceremony on time. A great opportunity to conquer our pride came when we passed the men'€™s team on the road; we were supposed to be an hour ahead of them. Luckily, they very gladly (well, unquestioningly) covered our miles while we headed for our first school ceremony at Harvey Primary School.

What a great school this was! This beautiful school reflects the lovely township of Harvey. We received such a warm welcome from the teachers and students, who were very excited to hear our message of world harmony. We were eagerly encouraged to share with the school the concept of world harmony and how we work to achieve it. We were later informed by associate principal, Teresa Brand, and her husband, principal Colin Brand, that a Virtues Program had been introduced into the school, and that words such as respect, peace and kindness are as common as maths, recess and morning tea. The school is currently learning about virtues, how they can be demonstrated as assets in the school environment, and our presentation was welcomed as a valuable, inspiring addition to their ongoing learning. Owing to the tiny stage we were unable to perform our '€˜harmonious / not harmonious'€™ play, but made up for it by having an extra big running session on the oval. The children loved running with the World Harmony Run flags and of course, holding the torch. Our heartfelt thanks especially goes out to Teresa and Colin for their warmth, encouragement and kind words to our team.

We were fortunate to fit a little running in before we were joined by the men at our next school, Yarloop Primary School. I can only speak for myself when I say one of the day'€™s highlights was running down a cool, shaded laneway that sliced through the middle of two impossible green paddocks on the way to this school, filled with cartoon-like back and white cows that stared thoughtfully and chewed indifferently by turns. Running down here with my teammates, under the bluest of skies, and carrying the Harmony flag, kindled in me a very true sense of peace and harmony.

The school itself, quaintly nestled between the vibrant green hills of Yarloop, consisted of 63 children who welcomed our arrival with a display of flags they had painted to represent the various countries to which the World Harmony Run travels. To top it off - and this part we really loved - they each had a tiny flag of a different country painted on their face, and had colour coded their clothes to match their various flags. We received many assurances that this was done for our benefit. The kids enjoyed singing and acting out the world Harmony Run song so much that our resident guitar player, Rathin Boulton, was besieged with requests for further renditions, and was even asked to play '€œSmoke on the Water'€, which sadly couldn'€™t be recalled at such short notice. It was lovely to hear the children'€™s very sweet and sincere ideas for introducing harmony into their lives and into their school. Thanks to Mr Chris Diaz, and to Leslie Lovell and the staff for receiving us so warmly and for the wonderful flag welcome!

In contrast to this tiny rural school, Waroona Primary / High School had over 400 pairs of eyes watching the team as we ran onto the oval to be welcomed by the school principal, Charlie. Some of our most ardent admirers thus far come from this school, and go by the names of Courtney, Taylar and Kirra, a trio of fourth-year students who stunned us with their unwavering enthusiasm for the World Harmony Run Song and their relentless pursuits of Rathin, who was implored repeatedly to sing '€œjust once more!'€ They even followed us to the staff room where we were invited for hot drinks and yummy chocolate biscuits. The staff and students of this school were incredibly cooperative and enthusiastic, and it was a pleasure to visit their school.

While the women made up for their running that morning (or lack thereof) by running to Mandurah through the afternoon'€™s heavy rain and cold weather, the men visited St Joseph'€™s Primary School in Pinjarra (no relation to the school of the same name that we visited in Busselton yesterday). While Veeraja Uppal was running from Waroona towards the town of Pinjarra, Prabuddha Nicol, Noivedya Juddery and Rathin Boulton talked to the expectant children about harmony, teaching them the World Harmony Run theme. When Veeraja Uppal and Peter Elliott appeared, brandishing the Torch, the children gasped excitedly. The final bell sounded soon after, so they finished their day on a high.

Thanks to Granny and Mark of Mandurah Ocean Marina Chalets, who have provided us with very comfortable accommodation to wind down day two and commence day three of The World Harmony Run.

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.