Friday 15 June 2007

The final day of the Western Australian World Harmony Run had an irregular beginning. Running into St Vincent'€™s Primary School in Kwinana, what greeted us caused immense surprise. In short, the school wasn'€™t there! In fact, not only was there no school, but where the buildings should have been, there was now an empty space, nothing but rocks and gravel where the school had once stood.

A quick phone call to our contact explained this bizarre phenomenon. St Vincent'€™s had recently moved location, but the address had not been updated in the schools directory. Whew!

We rushed to the charming bushland environs of the new locale, where an enthusiastic group of teachers and students awaited us. As we joined them in a relay around the school oval, the children'€™s excitement was well and truly visible.

After the fun of St Vincent'€™s, we ran 16 km to the suburb of Success. As its name suggests, it'€™s a fast-growing area - and it was the source of our second surprise of the morning. The streets of Jandakot are being renovated, and the road workers had removed the street signs! As a result, Peter Elliott and Noivedya Juddery ran straight past the turn-off and awaited further instructions from Rathin Boulton, the somewhat perplexed navigator. We arrived a little late, but this provided enough time for the anticipation at Jandakot Primary School to grow to super-high levels.

After we introduced them to the concept of world harmony, and taught them our theme song, their choir gave us a rendition of the New Seekers song 'I'€™d Like to Teach the World to Sing'€, accompanied by the music teacher on his guitar. Seeing this, Rathin wasted no time in unpacking his own guitar. He played duet with the music teacher - who proved a fast learner, as he perfected all the chords to the World Harmony Run theme song within minutes.

Children have seemingly endless reserves of energy - and the inspiration of the World Harmony Torch helps to bring out that energy. While most of the team enjoyed morning tea in the staff room, Rathin and Noivedya found themselves on the oval with a small group of children, who were challenging them to sprint races, showing off their gymnastic aptitude, and continually insisting that Rathin play the theme song '€œone more time'€ (something that, over the past few days, has become a familiar request).

The final school of the day was Koorana Primary School at Warnbro. The choir at this school gave a beautiful performance of a song called '€œCircle of Friends'€, which should be part of the World Harmony Run soundtrack.

The special guests were the Hon Mr Mark McGowan, Minister for Education and Training, and the Hon Mr Paul Papalia, local MLA for Peel (an electorate that includes the Koorana Primary School). Mr McGowan gave a speech supporting the World Harmony Run and its ideals; and confessing that he had forgotten to bring his running clothes.

There was a run around the oval, in which both MLAs (in their suits) led a group of kids and the World Harmony Runners. After the lap, the MLAs departed, and the school gave the team a rousing farewell hence closing the World Harmony Run in WA for 2007.

Though held over 4 days, the journey has been remarkable as each person we come in contact with has something unique and special to share with us, reinforcing the principle that we are truly all one world-family.

We'€™d like to take this moment to thank each and every participant for their enthusiasm and support, and we look forward to the next eagerly awaited stage which will take place in the South-Eastern state of Victoria. As anticipated, the joy is only just beginning!

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