Our World Harmony Run team has arrived on the beautiful island of Borneo in the city of Kota Kinabalu (KK), capital of the Malaysian region of Sabah. White, sandy beaches, waving palm trees and the smiles of the locals greeted us here at every doorstep. We chose this Wednesday as our World Harmony Run adventure in Sabah’s capital city.

The day started bright and early for us runners, as we were expected at our first meeting already at 7 a.m.! Fortunately the pleasant temperatures here in the tropics make such an early departure all the more bearable. So with bright spirits and smiling faces we ran into St. Agnes primary school, where 400 school children aged 9-11 were eagerly waiting for us.

St. Agnes is a mixed school of Christian and Muslim students. Their blending together of social and religious backgrounds conveyed to us the real meaning of harmony.

The children greeted us with thunderous rounds of applause and were all cheer and happiness as our program unfolded.

They especially liked the antics of Vladimir from Slovakia, a professional pantomime player who was part of our team. He entertained the children with a short skit that left them (and us) in stitches. After introducing the runners and the purpose of our Run we took the children outside for a lap around the sports field.

They exchanged high-fives with us at the end and all touched the Harmony Torch in passing.

From St. Agnes we ran a mile to St. James primary school to meet with 200 school children in their large auditorium.

St. James is a Chinese school, Chinese being the main ethnic population group in Kota Kinabalu. As in the previous school the children were brimming with joy and enthusiasm as we entered the premise.

It probably isn’t every day that runners from some 20 different nationalities visit their school and they seemed overjoyed to meet us. After our program they showed us a few handsome dances that they had prepared for the festivities of the Chinese New Year, which are taking place during the entire week.

And they surprised us by showing a perfect mastery of the World Harmony Run song, which we all sang together.

Slowly the torch was passed from hand to hand as we enjoyed chatting and playing with the children. They were so innocent, sweet and well-behaved!

The principal of the school delivered a very appreciating word of welcome and all the teachers showered us with kindness. It is people like these that show us time and again that harmony and the feeling of oneness are only a smile away. We are very grateful to both schools for hosting us so generously, even in the midst of exams and at such short notice!

From St. James we went to the centre of town, where we were expected at Kota Kinabalu’s City Hall.

Maria Othman Lee, deputy director general of KK, greeted us there together with many of her staff members.

She delivered a glowing speech, reminding us that striving for world-harmony is the best service we can render to our community. Members of different religions held the Harmony Torch aloft, expressing the underlying theme of harmony in all religions.

In response we thanked the city of KK and sang to the gathered crowd a song about Malaysia composed by Sri Chinmoy, the founder of the Run, praising the many good qualities he had felt the country embodies, such as the harmonious blending of religions and the generous and open-hearted spirit of its citizens.

After the ceremony, which took place in front of the building, we all retired upstairs to enjoy some baked local delicacies the city had prepared for us. Some of the runners recounted their experiences of the World Harmony Run and the privilege of meeting so many different people in all parts of the world, somehow all connected to this common goal of trying to improve our world – starting with ourselves – and thus trying to bring about what we like to refer to as ‘world-harmony’.

Maria closed the meeting by thanking us for our visit and hoping we would return in the future. She was a real angel, a totally self-giving person, and we were very moved and grateful by her generosity and hospitality. We do very much hope to return one day!

– Apaguha,Abinabha

Distance: 5 km

Team Members:
Over 50 international runners from 20 countries

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