Today is 25th anniversary of the World Harmony Run! The Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run was founded in 1987 and we have been running for peace and harmony ever since. Happy anniversary World Harmony Run!

It was all sunny skies today so we were thrilled to start our day at Deer Lake. We took out a few paddle boats and canoes, courtesy of Deer Lake Boat Rentals.

We had a lot of laughs while trying to position ourselves for a perfect picture! (Which we never did get, apparently our nautical manoeuvers were inadequate.)

Then we had a nice time paddling around the lake.

Daniel and Sarita get the prize for the best canoeing skills!

We ran over to Sir Guy Carleton Elementary School and met up with the grade 5 classes. They were really attentive and full of questions!

We went outside and the younger students ran laps around the yard while the older students ran around the block. They were so thrilled to run with our flags and torch!

They had participated in the World Harmony Run in 2008 and Mr. Macdonald was happy to show us pictures he had of that visit.

We had a quick parking lot practice of the Peace Run song that we would sing at our next event.

Our new friend Steven sat in and listened.

In the evening we ran to Britannia secondary school where we held a 25th anniversary celebration. We sang the Peace Run and World Harmony Run songs, watched a great retrospective video and had a few words from Salil Wilson the executive director of the World Harmony Run.

Then we were treated to the perfect example of musical harmony as Jessica Lui gave a sublime performance on her guzheng (a beautiful Chinese harp). She has attained the highest level of certification for guzheng playing as administered by the Chinese Central Conservatory of Music. By the end of her piece everyone was on their feet, clapping emphatically.

Two Torch-Bearer Awards were presented, the first to Deirdre Laframboise who is the co-founder and executive director of Clean Air Champions. She has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies/Biology, a Master's degree in Environmental Management/Buisness and 24 years of environmental consulting experience in program development related to air quality, climate change, waste management, sport and health.

The second Torch-Bearer Award was given to Ingrid Liepa who is the manager of the Clean Air Champions "Air Aware" module. She is a two-time Olympian; she started speed skating as a hobby during law school and within 2 years she was on the Canadian national team! She spoke to us about ‘Sustainable Happiness' and how it relates to living in harmony with people and the earth.

We were joined by our fantastic Galiano Island host Vilupti Barrineau along with her beautiful dog "Seema" - our new World Harmony Run mascot!

- Daily report by 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:
Prapti Jensen (Canada), Salil Wilson (Australia), Daniel Stewart (Canada), Yatkara Aleksapolskyy (Ukraine), Brahmata Michael (Canada), Sarvagata Ukrainskyi (Ukraine), Dimitriy Dudko (Ukraine), Varunavi (Slovakia), Sulabha Wisniewski (Canada), Amburoha (Ukraine)

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

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