"The overnight train from Cairo to Luxor" probably sounds more enticing and romantic than the creaking reality of the journey itself - especially if you are paying very little and receive a ticket called first class. Let us say that the ride was challenging and interesting beyond our imagination and though the distance was completed, it could never be compared to something wishful like a restful journey.

However, upon dragging ourselves out of the train station, there to greet us at Luxor with our names on a printed sign, was a delegation made up of a driver, a translator named Mohamed Kamal El Din Ahmed, Abdul Rheem, coach of Luxor Athletics and Ahmed Hanza Kalif, chief of Luxor. It was as though suddenly, after a most difficult night, a shiny red carpet was suddenly placed before us and we were chauffeured, dined, and cared for from one end of the enchanting city of Luxor to the other.

Over a pleasant breakfast we spelled out to our new friends what we hoped might happen in the few days of our stay. Ahmed Hanza then got on his cell phone, making many calls. It was he who then cheerfully and willingly took up the task of championing the World Harmony Run in Luxor.

We could understand nothing of his conferences in Arabic but somehow we all felt and knew that we were in good hands. It became clear very quickly that we were not just with an important official but with a new and dear friend. Within a few short hours we even made a brief and unexpected visit to the Governor’s resplendent office.

It was clear that enthusiasm for the World Harmony Run had taken hold here in Luxor before we had even arrived - all courtesy of the magic of a few calls from Hussien Fahmy, the General Manager of the Egyptian Athletic Federation. For the entire day we felt like dignitaries and were shown every courtesy and extended every privilege of that status.

On that very evening we had our first World Harmony Run ceremony. It was held at the Barat Youth Centre, which is just across the Nile from the imposing temple of Luxor. We arrived in our clean new uniforms and with a shiny torch to an athletic field filled with young kids. Some were running, some playing football and still others were doing other kinds of training. All were enthusiastic about sports and about training, and using the facility to the best of its modest capacity. The kids were all there under the guidance and care of coach Abdul Rheem. Once again we found that despite our very great language barrier, he too was to become a good and close friend.

Like all countries which do not have strong economies but where enthusiasm is strong although good equipment is in short supply, they made do with what they had. Few, if any, on the bumpy dirt track had shoes and, though the football pitch had grass, the track was dusty and rough and seemed to have fallen away altogether on one side. Nevertheless, the kids looked as if they were in Heaven. They made you feel as though they were training for the Bejing Olympics, and maybe for the small ones, London, or some different Olympiad to take place many years into the distant future.

There was just Mario, Rasto and myself making up perhaps the smallest World Harmony Run team on record. The kids made us once again feel like international stars and we were thrilled at how eager they were to hold the torch and run, and also how willing they were to share the torch with the younger, smaller athletes.

We sang a very off-key and none too professional version of the World Harmony Run Song , and the kids helped us with our less than stellar phrasing and did not seem bothered when the pitch wandered into a new and unpredictable key. They played our games and then we were eager to play games with them. Some of us played football, some practiced more running and even a little race walking.

At an event to which we had come with little expectation, we received a most welcome surprise. The children unreservedly and sweetly offered us their heartfelt enthusiasm, willingness and the almost magical identification that the World Harmony Run so often spontaneously accomplishes - moving people, touching hearts and inspiring lives, all the while giving back a most satisfying reward to those who show up at a dusty field with a torch.

Team Members:
Utpal Marshall (Canada), Mario Komak and Rasto Ulicny (Slovakia)

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