Juliian greets the morning mist.

Our welcoming party.

Our day began with a wonderful ceremony at Mathews Elementary.

The children greet the camera.

Becky Green, a physical education teacher who organized the event in Greenwood, was thrilled to have some of our runners run to greet the children.

Heading to the school.

We made our way through the suburban streets of Greenwood SC to the school where we were greeted by about 100 excited children.

Becky carries the torch with the children and Anja.

The highlight was a lap around the schoolyard with all the grades.

A soulful moment with the torch.

Teekhnata was deluged with autograph requests and we had to pry her free from the hungry autograph seekers.

Ace, reporter Ben Harrison and Arpan run towards Elberton.

My team of Atulya, Ulugbek, Francesco and myself had to drive up to a portion of the route so we could run into Elberton, Georgia. We met up with local resident of Elberton, Joe ‘Ace’ Findley about 20 miles out of town at the Georgia border. He ran over 5 of the miles into town with us.

Meanwhile, running to Elberton, we were escorted by Deputy Sheriff Christy Dove as Ace ran almost six miles with us on this scenic route into town. We ran into the center of the city and then made our way to the Elbert County Middle School to have a wonderful lunch so kindly offered to us by the staff there.

Mayor Larry Guest declares it World Harmony Run Day.

To our great surprise and delight, Mayor Larry Guest and former Mayor Iola Stone were patiently waiting for us as we entered the building. Southern hospitality was at its best as they escorted us to the cafeteria where Principal Martha Noble also welcomed us to the room of about 400 children.

There was no formal ceremony originally arranged here because the children had been taking regent exams and initially were not free to meet with us. We thought that it would be just a quick lunch and we would soon depart. But with both Mayors there as well as all the enthusiastic children and staff members, we ended up with a wonderful ceremony which also served as a birthday party for the lovely Mrs. Stone.

The birthday girl enjoys her moment.

After hundreds of children and adults alike all sang the traditional Happy Birthday song to her in unison, holding back tears, she commented that this was the most memorable birthday that she ever had.

It was like one big family as Bob Lee, a local resident who owns an insurance company in town, also took time out of his busy schedule to greet us at the school. Bob has been instrumental for many years in organizing events for us in Elberton, but because of his busy schedule he handed the duties over to Ace Findley. Ace did a fantastic job, not only of running with us, but in organizing this wonderful school meal and welcoming committee for us.

Thank you for a wonderful lunch Anne.

Enough cannot be said about Ace, Mrs. Noble, Mr. Guest, Mrs. Stone and all the others including the officers, Ms. Dove and Ms. Hughes, who escorted us into town, as well as Ben Harrison from the local newspaper who also ran a bit with us to town, and their incredibly supportive attitude towards our journey through their county.

Arwen offers us several Irishes dances she is studying.

Just as we thought the day could not get any better in terms of southern hospitality, we were then welcomed to Athens for the night by Dan and Kate, who made an incredible dinner for us and put us up for the night and their daughter Arwen who entertained us with some traditional Irish dances that really dazzled us after dinner. We spent the whole evening with them and some of their friends, Stuart and Jane, with no one really wanting to ‘call it a day’.

Dan, Kate and Eowyn were just marvelous hosts. The curry dinner was fantastic!

Dan left us for the night with this kind and thoughtful message, “We are caught up in our day-to-day existence, but you bring us the gift of spiritual clarity—of truly knowing your direction and your goal in this life.” Dan and Kate, Namaste

Enough gratitude cannot be offered for all the support from friends on the road as well as those back at home who make all these experiences to share harmony and friendship possible. We look forward to another couple of days in Georgia as we continue running south to Florida.

Grateful to y’all,

Arpan and Team Harmony

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