The school which we visited this morning is the oldest English-speaking school here in Dubai.

The Headteacher of DESS, Mr David Hammond and the Deputy Head, Mrs Helen Stallard were extremely nice in accommodating the World Harmony Run at such short notice.

Children welcomed us at the gate, to run with us into the court where almost 900 kids stood waiting for the torch to arrive.

The welcoming group was extremely happy to run and so did quite a few laps of the court, while the torch was being passed from child to child.

However, we also made the teachers and the visiting parents run!! (Which, of course, created a lot of excitement among the kids!)

In the end, after having asked the runners a lot of very intelligent questions, all the children were allowed to run with the torch! We were happy that the court is enclosed, because there was almost no stopping the kids and we "bigger" runners had to take care not to be completely bowled over by the enthusiastically sprinting children.

In the early afternoon, we held a Harmony Run event with the staff of The Ascott Group's Somerset Residence, our hosts, who sponsored 2 absolutely splendid rooms (or rather, apartments) for us World Harmony Run Runners to stay in during our time in Dubai.

All the hotel staff and our whole team were wearing World Harmony Run t-shirts - and a Somerset cap; we looked like one big, joyful team! We are really impressed by the enthusiasm the hotel managers, Mr. Melvin Quah and Mrs. Herieaty Khalid have for the World Harmony Run, and their commitment to the cause of harmony and friendship!

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Team Members:
Dipavajan and Apaga Renner (Austria), Susameepan Kalbitzer (Greece), Angela Muhs (Germany), Sandro Zincarini (Italy)

Gallery: See more images!

< United Arab Emirates 16 February