Team A

Coffs Harbour – Nambucca Heads

A meeting at Casuarina School, a Rudolph Steiner school in Coffs Harbour was the first ceremony for us today. A sanctuary of peace itself, surrounded by State Forest and only a 'stone's throw' from some of Australia's most stunning coastline, it was a perfect venue to share ideas for a more peaceful and harmonious world. The children delighted in joining their teachers for a run with the Torch. An awesome way to commence the day.

Next we went into town to run down Coffs Harbour Mall to be greeted by Deputy Mayor, Rod McKelvey. Rod was in awe of the World Harmony Run but we were the ones that soon became enraptured listening to Rod's passionate dreams for a better world. Rod held the Torch and the depth and sincerity of his silent wish was felt by us all. We weren't in Coffs Harbour long but certainly long enough to clearly see why people all around the country want to move into this famous banana-producing area. Read our interview with the 'Coffs Coast Independent'.

Our final ceremony for the day was at Uranga Primary School. This was a truly unique experience for our team. Just walking into the school grounds we could feel a tremendous dynamism in the school. Principal Glenn Thorncroft later explained to us that the school has a strong focus on sport and fitness. They believe that if the children are fit and healthy they are happier and perform better at school. We were very grateful to each receive a very nice pen from the school representatives Lauren and Luke. Glenn said he felt "blessed" to work with teachers who have such high standards and with such a truly great bunch of kids.

Later during the day when we were running our kilometres on the Pacific Highway we met Sam and Joe, two students from Uranga on their way home from school. We stopped for a quick chat and asked them what had been their favourite part of the ceremony.. "holding the Torch" they both agreed.

– Anubha Baird (Australia)

Team B

Nambucca Heads – Macksville

We started with a very sweet visit to Nambucca Heads Public School where held the torch and made a special wish for world harmony.

From the beautiful Nambucca Heads we ran along the Pacific Highway to our next destination at Macksville Public School, where our Russian team member, Misha, performed an extemporaneous solo rendition of the World Harmony Run song, to introduce the Team.

The students then recited their school creed to the Team which most eloquently summed up the mood and feeling of our gathering;

"This is our school,
Let peace dwell here.
Let the rooms be full of contentment,
Let love abide here.
Love one another,
Love of mankind,
Love of life itself,
And love of God.
Let us remember that many hands build a house,
So many hearts make a school."

It was then back on the highway for a quick drive down to Kempsey East Primary School (our only chance to meet the kids before the weekend) where we were warmly greeted by Principal Jenni Griffiths and Mayor Betty Green from the Kempsey Shire Council. The students displayed outstanding geographic skills by easily guessing the country of origin of all the team members, even Standa, who was much relieved when the students recognised his Czech accent immediately!

After some silent reflection and another rousing rendition of the World Harmony Run song, the students filed out of the hall and then ran lap after lap after lap of their school, for 20 minutes, accompanying the runners with the torch. There was so much excitement in the air, this was a great experience.

After leaving the school, Mayor Betty Green led us to the nearby Aboriginal Botanical Gardens in Kempsey. These extraordinary gardens are very special as they contain over 250 varieties of native trees and shrubs which were used as food by the Aboriginal people.

Horticulturist Greg Babbage showed us around the gardens offering us samples of many of the exotic fruits and seeds growing all around us. Many of the tastes were totally new to us and some were really tasty.

We were then all treated to some freshly cooked damper, which is a special type of traditional bread cooked on an open fire and then topped with fresh honey along with some Lemon Myrtle Tea plucked from leaves in the garden. It would have to be the best herbal tea I have ever tasted!

Richard Smith, a member of the Dunghutti people who are the traditional owners of the land in this area, then treated us to some didgeridoo playing and proceeded to give both Misha and myself a master class. Thankfully we were both able to produce an audible sound!.

– Veeraja Uppal (Australia)

  

Team C

Port Macquarie, Forster and Taree ceremonies

Today we were the "ceremonial" team ... we drove to all the places where we will be running over the next few day for special meetings with schools and councils, which are closed this weekend.

First, we headed off down the road 100 kms to Port Macquarie Public School, arriving slightly late which would replay itself at five out of the six ceremonies today; slightly late but still on time.

We arrived during the kids' assembly and presented them with the theme of the World Harmony Run and sang our song after which they sang their own school song which was a great surprise for us. They then passed the torch and ran with us around the school field with a view of the trees and beach in the background.

Running seemed to be natural for all the students as we did a curcuit of the yard and then they made a huge tunnel for us to run through on our way out; it was a great visit.

 

After the excitement here we ran directly to the van to drive across town to meet the Administrator, Dick Persson who met us and held the torch and even ran a few feet to demonstrate his oneness with the message of the Run.

Our last stop in town was the ABC Radio station which had requested a follow-up interview with our Icelandic runner Runar and a few more members of the team.

We went right in to the studio and within a few minutes were on the air and chatting with the host who very kindly held the torch and shared his time with us and helped us to reach out to many people on the airwaves. We are so grateful for this station's kindness and supportivness for the cause of Harmony...

Off again another 100 kms to Forster Public School with barely enough time to make it there, we rolled in and jumped out, rushed to the gymnasium where everyone was already assembled.

The next stop was a ginger beer factory – our national co-ordinator's favourite I might add – we had a tour and learned the art of bottling and the secret recipe too!

Thanks to Chris Murray for the history of the family business going back into the 1800s and the tour of the factory (and also the samples which we happily took back with us to the rest of the team to share around the dinner table!)

And finally we had to drive back up to Taree Public School to meet the children there for the final ceremony of the day. What a whirlwind of ceremonies and driving, tomorrow back to running!

 

 

Special thanks to Graham McIntyre and Bellingen Y.H.A. Backpackers for their kind hopsitality and beautiful accomodations last night.

Oh, one last thing, after our last ceremony we were out looking around town or eating ice cream and when we returned we found a very sweet note on our van with an especially aromatic dried flower from someone who had been moved in some special way by the magic of the Run.

– Prabhakar Street (Canada)

If you would like to place a link or a write a story about the World Harmony Run on your website, click here to Link to Us. We'll be happy to place a reciprocal link and list you on our Friends Online page.

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Distance: 115 km

Team Members:
Angela Muhs (Germany), Anubha Baird (Australia), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Garbitashri Webster (New Zealand), Prabhakar Street (Canada), Edi Serban (Romania), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Runar Gigja (Iceland), Marichi Clarke (Australia), Misha Kulagin (Russia), Dima Lehonkov (Ukraine), Veeraja (Uppal (Australia)

Harmonemail:
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Gallery: See more images!

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