We spent last night in an absolutely marvelous accommodation in Kimberley, a prestigious mountain resort called Northstar Mountain Village, right on the skiing slope. We are so grateful for this complimentary stay, which without any exaggeration, was the most fabulous, fancy and comfortable lodging so far on the run!

While boys made it peacefully to bed (after preparing all the logistics for the next day), girls kept away all the possible bears in the surroundings by rejoicing and happily jumping around the outdoor jacuzzi (sorry, no photos, even the camera received some splashes...)

In the morning we thanked the management for this gift givin

g them a WHR Certificate of appreciation.

 

Fully refreshed, some members of the team made a very early start and hiked on snowshoes to the top of the highest peak in the area, enthusiastically guided by the City Councillor Darryl Oakley.

Darryl Oakley is a shining example of Kimberley's nature-loving and warm-hearted inhabitants. We appreciated his deep knowledge of environmental protection and history of the area.

Straight after this "warm-up" (at least for Daniel who was sliding down the snow hill on his tummy), Bill Loebban from the local Fruit and Veggie market generously offered each member of our team a bag of fresh fruits.

Our first school meeting was in the Selkirk Secondary School in Kimberley, we started running in with a school hockey team. The students' age was between 12-16 but they were equally enthusiastic about holding the torch as the youngest children.

And not only students, we got to see some other unexpected friends right at the school parking lot.

In the next school, Kimberley Independent School, we visited some of our WHR youngest participants. The meeting began with everybody singing a national anthem "O, Canada" and some members of the team were deeply moved (e.g. myself, I couldn't hold back the tears in my eyes...). These children naturally grasped the idea of positive ideals in life, wonderfully and creatively guided by their teachers towards the peace, harmony and respect between people and nature.

It goes without saying that the inspiration is mutual. As you can see, our WHR team couldn't wait to try the playground located in the next school, Steeples Elementary School.

During the presentation, we tried a new game with kids to create harmony while playing different rhythms and it worked out very nicely.

The second part of the day was to run about 90 km to our next destination, Fernie, another mountainous resort. It was raining most of the time, however, we were still able to catch some glimpses of the awe-inspiring Rocky Mountains. We joked that maybe that's why all British Columbia is so clean and pure... because it gets washed very often..

Thanks to all runners for carrying the torch and to all passers-by who wanted to hold it as well. Some drivers even wanted to donate money, but we value their goodwill and wishes for peace and harmony much more...

– Varunavi

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Video Mesage from Davidson Hepburn, President (2009 - 2011) of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for 25th Anniversary of the World Harmony Run and a vision for the decade: "Toward a Oneness-World". With FRENCH subtitles

Full Text of the 25th annversary message and link to 25 language informal Translations: http://www.worldharmonyrun.org/25

See also:

• Youtube video on African experience which illustrates IYY slogan "Our Year Our Voice" International Year of Youth - Zambia World Harmony. They surprisingly mention Presidents and UN Secretary-General in a unique way!

• Listen to the World-Harmony-Run song: 2 min version // 6 min

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Team Members:
Brahmata Michael (Canada), Daniel Stewart (Canada), Yatkara Aleksapolskyy (Ukraine), Sarvagata Ukrainskyi (Ukraine), Dimitriy Dudko (Ukraine), Varunavi (Slovakia), Amburoha (Ukraine), Gautami (Slovakia), Manoshri (Slovakia)

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

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