Today we were greeted by 35 nations as part of a “world-wide” trip to embassies and consulates based in Canada’s capital, Ottawa.  During the day one of our teams branched off to meet with enthusiastic students and staff from St Luke’s Catholic School.

We started our trip in Serbia, where Mr Branimir Filipovic, Chargé d'affaires, and his wife Irina received us warmly.

We then went to Croatia, where Her Excellency Vasela Mrden Korac, the Croatian Ambassador received us with sweet and kind words. She emphasized the importance of international harmony.

Mr Rafa Domisiewicz, the Polish embassy second secretary honoured the run and encouraged the runners with an eloquent speech.

We then went to get some sun from the Sudanese Ambassador, Her Excellency Faiza Hassan Taha, who received us in her embassy. She underlined the importance of an event such as the World Harmony Run to bring awareness and promote peace.

His Excellency Evgueni Stoytchev, the Bulgarian Ambassador gave us the great honour to run with us from Bulgaria to Brazil and Austria.

In Uganda, we were welcomed by His Excellency George Marino Abola and a few counsellors. His Excellency had prepared a speech to greet and encourage the runners.

Today we were happy to have a few embassies greeting each other. The first encounter was with Bulgaria and Brazil.

We are grateful to Mr Julio Silva, counsellor, for receiving us in Brazilian territory. The Brazilian embassy also sent a staff member, Mr Francisco Assis De Sousa, to run with us a good part of the morning from Sudan all the way to Angola, although we did a few detours in different parts of the world before getting to Angola!

Bulgaria also shook hands with Austria. Thank you to His Excellency Evgueni Stoytchev for running with us! This is really the spirit of the run.

In Austria we had the pleasure to meet Mr Storer, Deputy Ambassador.

In Mali, His Excellency Mamadou Bandiougou Diawara and a few counsillors came out to greet the runners and hold the torch.

We then went to Algeria, where we were warmly and smilingly welcomed by His Excellency Smail Benamara. His Excellency encouraged us by saying that he could see the authenticity of this event by looking at our radiant faces filled with harmony.

In Guinea, we were greeted by Mme Kaba Hawa Diakipe, chargée d'affaires, and a few staff members.

We then went to Russia where Mr Sergey Petrov, Minister Counselor, greeted the runners and expressed his warm feeling towards this event.

In Venezuala Sevati had a chance to speak in Spanish with Tomas Salcedo, Third Secretary, who then gave an encouraging speech in English.

In Côte D'Ivoire, we've had the chance to meet with the First Secretary, Mr Roger Diby, and two counselors, Mr Bernard Nguessan and Mr Raphael Hue-Bi.

As we were late and the two embassies are almost in front of each other, we asked Egypt to come with us to greet Kenya and Ms. Hala El-Bishlawy, chargée d'affaires kindly agreed.

Ms. Hala El-Bishlawy of Egypt is presenting the torch to Her Excellency Judith Bahemuka of Kenya.

Her Excellency Judith Bahemuka of Kenya, was deeply happy to greet us as she had had the chance to meet and be lifted by Sri Chimoy in 2006 while she was Ambassador at the UN. She still remembers and cherishes those moments.

In Brunei, we were welcomed by Her Excellency Rakiah Haji Abdul Lamit and many staff members. Thank you for your warm welcome and kind words.

We ended up our morning world tour with Angola, where we were greeted by a few staff members and Ms. Sofia de Silva, Minister Counsellor.

Next we went to the World Exchange Plaza, which is a fitting name for the special ceremony attended by 15 representatives of the international community.

His Excellency William Fisher, from the Australian High Commission.

His Excellency Georges de la Roche, Embassy of Guatemala

Ms. Joseline Pujol, First secretary, Embassy of Dominican Republic

Mr. Per Oystein Vatne, First Secretary, Embassy of Norway

The Hon. Justice Michel M.J. Shore

Mr. Belay G. Kidane, Chargé d'affaires, Embassy of Ethiopia

Her Excellency Motseoa Senyame, Embassy of Lesotho

His Excellency Rafael Angel Alfaro Pineda, Embassy of El Salvador

Ms. Slavica Dimovska, First Secretary, Embassy of Macedonia

His Excellency José S. Brillantes, Embassy of Philipines

Mr Fuad Didic, Counselor and Head of Mission, Embassy of Bosnia-Herzegovina

Mr. Eugerjav Gotov, Counselor, Embassy of Mongolia

Ms. Annemarie Duncker, Third Secretary, Embassy of Chile

Mr Pavel Pustovoy, Chargé d'affaires, Embassy of Belarus

His Excellency Jamil Sakr, Embassy of Syria.

In the afternoon, we visited three more embassies, so in just one day we visited 20 countries and were visited by 15 others at the World Exchange Plaza.

In Tunisia, His Excellency Mouldi Sakri was glad to welcome us. He prepared a thoughtful speech in English so that everybody could understand. I was happy to share with him the sucess of the run in Tunisia which was organized for the first time this year. We are very grateful to the Tunisian embassy for their help in the organisation of the run in Tunisia.

M. Karel Hejc, Head of the Czech Consular section ran a few steps with us. And I felt he would have loved to run more.

We were also warmly greeted by Tamas Kiraly, Deputy Head of Mission for Hungary and Ms. Erzsebet Fenyvesy, the Ambassador's wife.

We had a very busy day around the world and our hearts are still filled with the warm and kind words from our world family.

 

Visit to St Luke's Catholic School

Today we had the opportunity to meet with students and teachers at St. Luke’s Catholic School, what an enthusiastic welcome outside the school!

“It is so nice what you are doing! It gives so much to the children, I feel. They will remember it forever, I am sure…!” One of the teachers told us while we were running together with them into the school.


“I know exactly what you mean!” was my answer, and I meant it:
Some things stay with you your whole life…



We all ran to the library to present the World Harmony Run ceremony.  The team presented the song, explained the message of harmony and played a fun game with the kids. They very much enjoyed this game and had fun clapping and stomping harmoniously with each other.



Next it was outside to run the Torch around the beautiful big school field. The children were full of life and the team was very inspired by their dynamic energy.


We would like to thank teacher, Wendy Alexis and Principal, Mr. Brandon for their warm welcome and for all their efforts that made this event possible.

– Salil Wilson

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Distance: 7 km

Team Members:
Prapti Jensen (Canada), Sevati Bondanza (El Salvador), Adarini Inkei (Switzerland), Elke Lindner (Germany), Tanuja Konecna (Czech Republic), Medur Wilson (Canada), Salil Wilson (Australia), Amy (Canada), Abichal Neil Spencer (Wales)

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

Gallery: See more images!

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