With clear blue skies and the temperature already rising, we met with very young children from the kindergarten at the Brandenburg Dom.

They were very excited as we arrived with the torch and their abundant joy spilled over as they ran with the torch.

We headed out of Brandenburg over the bridge that spanned the River Havel and out into the countryside of expansive fields of corn and wheat, with ‘forests’ of wind turbines towering above the trees and the fields.

The Team had a bonus as nature gifted us with brilliant red cherries, as part of our route to Nauen was lined with cherry trees. We picked so many that throughout the whole day we were eating cherries as snacks to keep us going. Roberto, our German runner used his car to get to some of the best cherries.

At Nauen we met the vice mayor, whilst at Falkensee and Berlin Spandau we met mayors. All fully supported our Run with much enthusiasm.

Each year from Falkensee, runners compete in a 10 km race to Spandau known as the Race of Sympathy, after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. Both mayors mentioned how this run’s ideals were similar to our World Harmony Run – about friendship, understanding and oneness.

Five kilometres from Falkensee we were joined by a local runner who saw in the newspaper that we would be running to Berlin and so he gladly joined us after finishing work. In the midday sun the heat was intense and it certainly felt hotter than yesterday. We were later to observe in the centre of Berlin that on an outside temperature gauge the temperature was 38 degrees Celsius! It was slightly hot for most of the runners but we continued our running through the suburbs of Berlin to the centre, and to the Victory Column and onto the Malaysian Embassy.

At the Malaysian Embassy we were received by an official representative and a group of staff members including children.

The embassy official stated that,

“The Malaysian Embassy in Berlin welcomes participants of the World Harmony Run 2006. We welcome and support this initiative to support harmony, tolerance and friendship and applaud the dedication and commitment in this endeavour.

As a multi-racial and multi-religious country, Malaysia has always cherished a nation made of Malaysians who are in unison, with respect and goodwill towards our fellow Malaysians of all backgrounds. This is no accident and a great deal of hard work and care has gone into tending and strengthening the social fabric.

We also celebrate our rich diversity of cultures and heritages as fundamental and a source of strength to ensure the continued peace and prosperity that Malaysia has enjoyed for many years.

Harmony, tolerance and friendship is a key to a better world – not just for us today but for generations to come. Let us work together to ensure that harmony will become the heritage which is the common possession of the peoples of the world”.

At the ceremony we passed the torch to all staff members including the wife of the representative who was holding their baby boy who was transfixed by what was happening around him.

All the people of the Malaysian Embassy showed a friendly team spirit and we were really grateful for the drinks they offered to us in this hot afternoon.

After saying our goodbyes to the Malaysian Embassy we ran the short distance to the Indian Embassy. Again, a representative of the Embassy warmly greeted us with a heart felt smile.

He stated how important our endeavours were to world harmony and highly valued our worthy cause. He wrote his special message in our World Harmony Run book of good wishes:

“The message of peace, harmony and friendly living needs to be spread as widely and effectively as possible. I wish every success to the World Harmony Run in this noble cause. As we say in India – the whole world is one family”.

From the Indian Embassy we ran to the Brandenburg Gate and the Room of Silence in the northern wing of the Gate. On request of the founder and chairwoman of the foundation of the Room of Silence, Dr. Maria Diefenbach, we were received by her representative with a welcoming address explaining the situation:

"...The Brandenburg Gate was designed as a gate of peace, but in history it was often used and misused for political ends. For years the gate symbolized a divided city and a divided world. After the fall of the Wall, it became once again a symbol for a united peaceful future in Germany and Europe. The Room of Silence symbolizes the original idea of the Brandenburg Gate as a gate of peace. “As a place of thoughtfulness, brother-and sisterhood it will – we hope – confer honour and blessings to our city and to its symbol as a representation of peace here and elsewhere in the world.....”

Read the rest of the welcome speech.......

During the World Cup Championship the Brandenburg Gate represented a meeting point and goodwill between football fans and here started the Football Fan Mile where fans could share their joy and sense of oneness.

The unison of fans and sense of oneness was one for the whole world to see. As the World Cup finished on Sunday they were still taking down all the scaffolding and equipment around the Gate.

Such dramatic and symbolic representation of peace marked the end of our day. We were all very exhausted after running in such hot conditions. We were so grateful for a wonderful meal prepared by our German hosts.

At the end of the evening we said goodbye to Janos who had been on the International Team for a month. This journey has inspired him to return on the World Harmony Run next year for a longer time. We wish him a safe journey back to Hungary.

Distance: 87km

Team Members:
Daniel Schenke (Germany), Jadranka Grbic (Serbia & Montenegro), Janos Derekas (Hungary), Jarek Werner (Poland), Mark Collinson (England), Marlen Bernhard (Germany), Olesya Ilyasova (Russia), Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Petar Mihaylov (Bulgaria), Petr Machacek (Czech Republic), Svetlana Gorshkova (Russia), Valentine Bebik (Ukraine), Zoltan Theobald (Hungary).

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