Maheeshi greets the students at Mt. Gallant School.

The day began with a run to Mt. Gallant School in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Almost 600 children were eagerly awaiting our arrival in the large playground behind the school. With them were all the teachers including Principal Chris Beard and counselor Gail Abernathy who organized the event for us. We made one lap around the huge crowd of children which took a few minutes and lots of hand slapping.

The children are always so happy to see the torch.

As we were making our presentation I noticed that we were standing on a huge painting of the continents on the asphalt playground. Obviously this school was very conscious of the importance of the international aspect of education.

Principal Chris Beard was a great host. He thrilled the students by running a lap around the lot with torch.

Gail also explained to me that they have an award of the month which, this month, was ‘conviction’. She said that they teach the children the importance of standing up to believe in something with conviction as part of their character education program.

The teachers soon followed suite. We think we are on to something. The kids just loved it.

They have been showing the World Harmony Run events from our website to the children all week as examples of conviction. It was truly an honor to share our experiences with the children and staff at this wonderful school.

One team had to rush off to make it to Winthrop University also in Rock Hill. We were greeted by about twenty students and counselors. Norma McDuffy, an English teacher and student counselor in the ‘Champs Life Skills’ program, organized the meeting for us. We met athletes from the Winthrop Eagles soccer, tennis, volleyball, basketball and track teams. There also were a few countries represented including a woman from Uzbekistan. She was thrilled when we told her that we also had a runner from Uzbekistan. In her two years in the U.S. she had not yet met another Uzbeki. Later we called Ulugbek, our Uzbeki runner so they could converse in their native language.

After a very inspiring ceremony and meeting with the college students we went outside and ran about a mile around the lake on campus to the music of the World Harmony Run song which was being broadcast on the huge loudspeaker system at the stadium. We are grateful to all who came out to greet us and to the organizers including Beth Waggoner who is a graduate and a national representative of SAAC—the Student Advisory Athlete Committee. Jack Frost, the assistant athletic Director in charge of media relations was also instrumental in setting up this meeting and a small press conference we had afterwards with a local cable station.

Julian hasn't been able to wipe the smile off his face since he arrived.

We had our third ceremony of the day at the Chester Park School of the Arts in Chester, south of Rock Hill. There were about 100 children and teachers waiting in the hot sun on the lawn for us.

After our presentation and short run with the children, we were presented with a beautiful book of artwork and creative writing on the theme of harmony and peace. The opening page reads:

“World Harmony Run, Thank you so much for visiting our school. We hope you had a great time at the Chester Park School of the Arts. Harmony is very important not only in the world but in our school. Everyone needs to see the importance of peace and brotherhood. We support your cause. We hope you have a safe trip as you continue your mission of getting people involved in harmony.”

We are very grateful to Melissa Lindsay of the Physical Education Department as well as all the staff involved in organizing this event for us.

We had a very busy day as we were not done yet. My team still had to run about 30 miles in the heat, on the hilly but tree lined route to get to Clinton where we were warmly received by residents at the Frampton Hall Seniors Center.

The Frampton Hall residents were delighted to spend time with our team. And vice versa.

Director Mary Addison, who had organized this meeting as she did last year for us, was very excited as were about 30 senior citizens of the 45 residents living in this wonderful building.

We spent over two hours there meeting with the residents. This included a ceremony where we sent many balloons of hope and harmony off into the sky. We were then treated to an incredible meal. After the meal we offered the residents some light entertainment including a few short skits, a soulful musical offering by Bangshidhar, and a poetry recital by Anja and Maheeshi.

The camera man is spotted.

Some of us also sang a song written by Sri Chinmoy , the founder of the World Harmony Run. The words are, “Old age is a new page and not a broken cage.” Some of the members joined us in singing this catchy and meaningful song.

We had to move on and finally get to our accommodations for the night at the Clinton Hotel . Mr. Kirit, the owner and manager has been very generous in offering us six rooms for the night.

Kirit's daughter joined us in the morning for a nice send off.

We are extremely grateful for this spirit of giving that allows us to share the message of harmony and friendship as we travel the length and breadth of this vast and beautiful country.

Arpan and the Team

Anja teaches her word in German.

As our final ceremony for today was fast approaching, I started remembering the first day, when I came to the run in 2005.

Today we visited different schools then last year, but the last place we ran to which was also our finishing point for today was supposed to be the same as the year before. So I knew where we would go and I knew that I would meet the people I had seen exactly one year ago.

It was at the Frampton Hall in Clinton (South Carolina).

Everybody was standing outside, waiting for us with a balloon in their hands. The balloons that would fly off later to bring their good whishes to everybody who sees them.

It was one of the nicest experiences for me to meet people again who remember you and are so excited to meet you again. Marry, Emily and many others who immediately gave us a big hug and a huge smile that meant a lot to us.

This year we were invited to have dinner with them which was specially made for us. We got to know each other much better and had to laugh a lot.

Anja and Kate.

My special appreciation goes to Kate Spear who is exactly 70 years older then I am. She used to be a runner until she turned 93. Now she is 97 and slowed down a little bit she said. I asked for her recipe. She told me just to stay happy, happy, happy and fit.

Thank you to all of them who received us with so much love and oneness.

Anja (Germany)

Teekhnata carrries the torch forward.

It’s difficult to write about a day that has been incredibly difficult and at the same time amazingly beautiful. The difficulty was in the confusion of the route. Signs were often missing from important intersections and locals didn’t seem to know much more than we did when we asked for directions. Moods were stormy and miles were long as we made our way through South Carolina.

Maheeshi shares her joy.

Luckily, some of the people we met along the way protected me from falling too far into a dark mood. One such meeting was at the Walmart in Chester. The assistant manager, Linda, was so kind to us. She agreed to donate $70 worth of groceries to our hungry team. We are now stocked up with cereals, bars, trail mix and other goodies. When we were checking out, I saw that I had gone $8.37 over my $70 budget and as I started to get the cash from my wallet to make up the difference, our cashier Belinda, said that she wanted to pay the rest from her own money. It was a very kind gesture and we are grateful.

Our most gracious host Kirit. We would have his shirt if we needed it.

I notice subtle changes as we enter the heart of the South. People here are very open and hospitable. “Southern hospitality” truly does exist. We are staying at the Clinton Hote l in Clinton (of course) and the owner has gone out of his way to accommodate us. When I checked in, he was distressed that some of us might have to share a bed with a fellow team member so he gave us 2 extra complimentary rooms. He then proceeded to offer us dinner at the hotel restaurant (we had already eaten at the Frampton Hall), the use of his meeting room and some warm milk before bed. Wow!

Finally, just a note about the Frampton Hall Seniors Center…the team visited them last year and apparently they liked us so much they invited us to dinner this year. I met an especially vibrant 82 and a 1/2 year old resident named Miss Leona Parker. She was a young woman in an aging body and proof that our child-heart and spirit live on even as the body ages. I really enjoyed getting to know her and being inspired by her vitality.

Over all it was a wonderful day as most days are it was only that my attitude needed an adjustment. This is usually the case and what I work on within myself to become a more harmonious being….making a real effort to appreciate the good things that happen and further, stretching to see the good in that which may be disguised as a struggle.

Teekhnata

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