We woke up after a restful stay at the Juniper Lodge in Fernie, which was generously offered by the Fernie Lodging Company. A couple of the boys were unable to open their room with the key provided and ended up staying in an "executive suite"! We felt so fortunate to stay so close to the mountains once again in these beautiful rooms.

The rain didn't dampen the Sparwood spirit one bit! As we ran towards a good-sized crowd, gathered around the World's Biggest Truck, there was lots of applause and excitement.

Acting Mayor Joanne Wilton presented us all with souvenirs of the town as she cheerfully welcomed us.

On our way out of town, we were accompanied by some runners from "Sole Sisters" on route to Coleman.

At Horace Allen School our team spent a bit of time in the library while waiting for the students to gather in the gym. They had all kinds of fun things to keep us occupied there.

They also had harmony-themed artwork and a wall of hand prints as a symbol for togetherness (there were even some of our team member's hand prints from 2008!)

One student's locker was decorated with a World Harmony Run sticker.

The children were really happy to hold our banners for us...

...and even happier to hold the torch!

We presented Principal Elaine Garner with a certificate of appreciation for having us at their wonderful school.

At Trailhead community trail, a few athletic students from Crowsnest High School were waiting for us along with their teacher Ryan Peebles. 

We ran with them to Blairmore where we were joined by the Kilometer Club from Isabelle Sellon School for the final stretch.

Everyone high-fived the runners as we arrived at the School.

We had a really nice assembly and Mr. Pichurski even took out his guitar and we got to hear the lively ‘ISS Theme Song'.

...we had brought a half of a pizza in the van with us and as it neared lunch time we got ready to distribute it among us. The only problem was that Gautami opened the window a little too far and it went flying out the window! If you were driving behind us and got pizza all over your windshield, we apologise.

After mourning the loss of our food, we ran further into Alberta and the mountains started to fade into the background a little more.

And the road became a little more flat.

Some mountain goats came out to see what we were doing.

The Ukranians felt right at home in the prairies.

We ran along the Cowboy Trail...

...where we met up with the Buffalo Runners!

We ran with them to the Napi Friendship Association.

We shared our WHR presentation dvd with everyone.

Ken Williams held our torch and shared some beautiful words.

Liander and Mike then prepared a Blackfoot ceremony with prayers and blessings. We were so grateful and humbled to be a part of this special experience.

Liander taught us so many things about Blackfoot traditions and we were delighted to find that the messages reciprocated those of the World Harmony Run. He said that the image of the circle is very important to them as it symbolises equality, "there is no inferiority or superiority, it just goes around and around". Also the number four is significant as it represents the four directions "that is what you're doing with this run," he expressed, "spreading the message in all directions." He said that people should live in the heart because "the mind gets us into trouble." Finally, he expressed that it is important when you receive something or take something from the earth to make sure that you always give something back to establish the balance.

We shared a very heartfelt and serene time together and we thanked them for their unique and sincere contribution in the World Harmony Run. Since there is no word in the Blackfoot language for goodbye, we did not say our farewells. We only said "see you later" or "Kitatama'sino".

- Brahmata

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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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