Sunnybank Hills Primary School (9:30 am)

The World Harmony Run has its share of misadventures, and this morning was no exception - especially with the confusion that occurs from having two World Harmony Run teams on the road at the same time. We will spare you most of the details. Suffice it to say that (after some excitement) one team arrived happily at Sunnybank Hills School, greeted by a few hundred eager schoolchildren. After singing the World-Harmony-Run song (which they had learned), each child lined up to take their turn holding the Torch and make a silent wish for world harmony. “Did you make your wish?” a young boy asked one of his friends with concern, making sure that the few seconds spent holding the Torch were not squandered.

Sunnybank Hills is a multicultural area of Brisbane, so the students of Sunnybank School represent many of the world’s nations. This morning, they represented the hopes and dreams of all those nations - and of the entire world.

Richlands East Primary School (9:30am)

Jayita, David, Nigel and Julie visited this very happening little school, armed, of course, with the Harmony Torch and DVD. We visited between 250 and 280 pre-school to year 7 students, all of whom were very excited because it was their last day of school for the semester. Deputy Principal Vicki Tunny was kind enough to allow us to sit in on the school's assembly before our presentation, and it was wonderful to see so many awards being given out to various students and teachers.

The students already knew quite a bit about Harmony Day, and were very cooperative and attentive during our presentation. We found out later that it was because they were saving their energy for the torch relays! We started out by passing the torch between students in a large circle on the oval, and then, due to popular demand, were happy to run a series of relay races with the torch. It was a very fun morning for the team, and we thank Richlands East Primary School for their warmth and enthusiasm!

St Stephen's at Algester (1:45pm)

This school was a real favourite for our team (Nigel, Jayita and Julie). Being quite a new school, we spoke to a relatively small group of students (150 preschool-yr 4) and were very impressed to learn that they had been practising their World-Harmony-Run song! They sang magnificently- better then the team, anyhow- and made very beautiful wishes for world harmony. They also introduced the first zig-zag torch relay to be run so far in Brisbane, and many brave little hands were keen to reach out and embrace the torch. St Stephen's students were also particularly enthusiastic about running with the torch (which always warms the team's heart!), and so with only half an hour of school left for the semester, the kids spent their time lapping the oval with torch and team. Congratulations on your fantastic school spirit guys, and enjoy the holidays!

Montessori School Brisbane (1:45 pm)

Our next visit took us to the beautiful suburb of Fig Tree Pocket, surrounded by bushland. For students at the Montessori School Brisbane, it must seem like a permanent school camp. Perhaps this explains why they are such a happy group. They are also a wide-ranging one, from four-year-olds to high-schoolers. The Montessori curriculum includes many more activities based around world harmony, creativity and wholistic development, so they were perfectly in tune with the World Harmony Run team.

It was the last day of term, and the students finished the day (and the term) with a Walk for Health to encourage physical fitness. The presence of the World Harmony Torch added another dimension, as the runners joined them for this walk around their athletics grounds.

Afterwards, one would assume that these children would only want to prepare to rush home for their long-awaited holiday break. But most of them didn’t want to go anywhere without having their photo taken holding the Torch. As they queued up, to make a wish with the Torch, you had some idea of what they thought: this was better than any holiday!

New Farm State School (2:00 pm)

We were welcomed today by students from years 6 and 7. The principal Bill Carey greeted the team before being led to students by teachers Annie Averell and Scott Fell.

The kids said that harmony was about “being happy” and “no violence”. Joy was shared with the passing of the World Harmony Torch from hand to hand at the softball court.

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