Peace does not mean the absence of war.

Peace means the presence of harmony,

love, satisfaction and oneness.

— Sri Chinmoy

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“At the beginning of our run we boarded an SUV and drove to the border of Liberia. This was quite an adventure in itself, especially the last 90 miles which took nearly 12 hours. The vehicle was pretty much totaled after the trip. Forget about potholes (although one of these wrecked the oil pan and damaged the axle). There were craters
half filled with water and given the red soil that is characteristic of the West African landscape, it often looked like some otherworldly scene from a sci‑fi movie. We got stuck a few times and constantly had to remove shoes and socks, roll up the pants legs, get out and push the vehicle through.

As always, various ‘angels’ appeared rom time to time to help ease the way.  A Mercedes car dealer in Sierra Leone as able to do what the banks could not: provide me with access to money using my credit card. (There are no ATMs in Sierra Leone or Liberia, and the American Express card could not be processed.) The manager of Slok
Airlines in Liberia paid for part of my ticket out of his own pocket, as there was no way to correct a ticket error. 

There were also opportunities for us to be ‘angels’ for others. On the last day of the Run, we came across a crowd of people on the side of the road gathered around someone. A man had beaten his wife until she was unconscious. When we tried to talk
to him, the man ran off! We placed his wife on the bus, along with some family members and her newborn baby, and drove them to the nearest clinic. I never found out what happened after that, but I pray that she recovered from the ordeal, and am grateful
that we could be of some service.”

— Ganapati Coleman, USA

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The Run started in Giza and ran through Cairo and to the North Sinai, where the President of North Sinai held the Torch and welcomed the runners with the words: “We in North Sinai know what war is, but we also know what peace is worth”. Afterwards, the Torch was passed across the border between Egypt and Israel. The torch was later welcomed by Israeli President Chaim Herzog (1983 - 1993) and tens of thousands of spectators at the 14th Hapoel Games, an international athletics event held in Israel. At the opening, the Torch lit the flame that was kept burning for the duration of the Games. “The Torch was carried by Egyptian runners across the Suez Canal and the Sinai Desert” said the announcer. “The battle zones of yesterday have today become paths of peace.”  — Divaspati Schumacher, Germany

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“My Brother in peace, we acknowledge the tremendous contribution which you and your
peace movement are making to promote global peace.“
President Nelson Mandela (pictured right, with First Lady Graça Machel and World Harmony  Run founder Sri Chinmoy) holds the Peace Torch in New York in 1998

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“I am happy to support your Peace Run for justice, peace and  reconciliation. The world
must know that God wants us to live amicably as brothers and sisters, members of one family, the human family, God’s family.”  - Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

 

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Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, Nigerian scholar and diplomat, United Nations
Under Secretary General

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“The Rhein- Valley Hospital in Kasambara (Kenya) lies about 5km from the main road, down a bumpy dirt track, which once again tested the skills of our van and driver! A few kilometres from the hospital we were met by a group of local school children
who ran the rest of the way with us.”  — Hutashan Heer, Switzerland

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A runner from Europe enjoys the sand dunes of the African route.

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“I entirely endorse the idea which was started by Sri Chinmoy to create a more harmonious and a more friendly world for all, through running together for world harmony.  I feel that the most important thing in life is to have peace and harmony between one another. Especially for some of us that are sportsmen, without the peace itself and without the harmony, we are not going anywhere. I am happy that harmony and peace have assisted me in my family to achieve what I have achieved in my sport and have made me who I am today.” - Paul Tergat, former Marathon World Record Holder

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“I am really happy to be here for harmony and peace. Without peace we would not be here today. When I see this Torch of the World Harmony Run, it symbolises hope, love, light and caring. We have still a long way to go, because the Marathon for peace and harmony is a long way to run.”  - Tegla Loroupe, former Marathon World Record Holder

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The great Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian world and Olympic champion, met with the World Harmony Run during the Great Ethiopian Run.

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Moroccan middle distance runner Hicham El Guerrouj, Olympic gold medalist and world champion.

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“Sports is the best way to gather people together. With God’s help I hope all the world lives in peace, and all the wars and problems stop.” - Mohammed Gammoudi, Olympic
champion and African long distance running pioneer.

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Kenenisa Bekele, Ethiopian Olympic and world champion in middle-distance.

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Keino Kipchoge, Kenyan distance runner, Olympic champion

 

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Every day must come to you as a new hope, a new promise, a new aspiration, a new energy, a new thrill and a new delight. Tomorrow will dawn and you have already seen thousands of days. If you think that tomorrow will be another day like those which you
have already seen, then you will make no progress. You have to feel that tomorrow will be something absolutely new that you are going to create in your life. — Sri Chinmoy

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Morocco

“Among the many people that we met, we were most surprised to encounter a 2:15 marathon runner who spoke Czech. It was a funny situation, because just a few days before we were joking that it would be virtually impossible to meet a Moroccan who spoke Czech.” — Jan Minarcík, Czech Republic

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Tunisia

 

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Morocco

“By sunset we arrived at our final destination in Morocco – Taourirt. After all the  places we have passed through and all the different experiences we have had in this  country, it was really hard to imagine what could happen tonight. We were not greeted by runners at the entrance of the town, so we started to think that there wouldn’t be much happening, but this was Morocco, a land of surprises. As we made the turn we could hear drums close by and before we knew it, we were enveloped by a huge crowd cheering and singing. The local authorities, together with the Governor of the region, guided us through what seemed like a gathering of all of the inhabitants of the town.”
— Homagni Baptista, Australia

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More from World Harmnoy Run Africa at : http://www.worldharmonyrun.org/about/history/history_2011/africa