Sports restoring unity
By Martin Tindiwensi, WV Rwanda Communications
It’s an eye opener for 13-year-old Virginie Uwijuru. She walks into Rwanda’s national stadium for the first time. There is a sea of people, many of them stretching, others laughing and some jumping up and down.
Virginie is struck with wonderment.
This is Virginie’s first time in the city. She left her mom and siblings behind in their rural village, about three hours away. She’s never been so far from home.
“Friends that have been to Kigali have always been telling me a lot about the city, big and tall buildings, electricity everywhere, nice roads, so many people, and many cars. I have seen them all and I will tell my classmates many stories when I go back,” Virginie says.
She’s also never competed in a race of this magnitude before either. She is among 5,000 people running today.
The Kigali International Peace Marathon is Rwanda’s largest and brings together runners from across East Africa. It’s organised under the lead of the Rwandan Ministry of Sports and Culture, Soroptimist Europe and Luxemburgish, along with support from the Rwanda Athletic Federation and World Vision Rwanda.
While Virginie isn’t competing in the 42km marathon, she is running in a 5km race for children. World Vision helped bring her, and several other sponsored children, to the city to compete in the race.
“This is a way to train children to be peace makers,” explains World Vision Rwanda National Director George Gitau.“It’s also a way of motivating children to work harder since those chosen to participate in the peace marathon were chosen due to their good behaviour and performance in school.”
A race to remember
As the start time draws near, Virginie lines up at the starting line with 700 other 11 to 15-year-old children.
She thinks about home. The longest she has ever run is two times around the football field in her village. She really isn’t sure how long she’ll have to run today.
“Ready! Set! Goooo!" shouts Joseph, an employee at Rwanda Athletics Federation.
Virginie starts moving. She leaves the inside of the stadium and keeps running, past the stadium's main gate, past the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda office, past the Kigali Institute of Education and towards the main Kimironko market.
At two kilometres, Virginie is running strongly. She is in the lead pack and is the only girl running up front with a group of boys. She’s also the only runner from the rural area. All the other runners ahead of her are from schools in Kigali.
At kilometre four, Virginie is still working hard. She has left hundreds of children behind her. The group of boys are only a few now. They look to be a bit older. Maybe 14 or 15.
Being the only girl, she attracts the attention of reporters. “This is amazing, the girl in a World Vision T-shirt is promising to be number one among the girls,” reports one of the journalists. At this point, no one knows Virginie’s name; she’s still anonymous.
She continues to run with determination. As she runs back into the stadium, her picture is broadcast on a large screen. She is the first girl to enter, and Virginie attracts the attention of spectators.
The crowd cheers as she negotiates the last corner inside the stadium, closing in on the finishing line. It’s her final destination. She looks tired, but cheers from the crowd and World Vision staff, running alongside her, give Virginie courage and strength to run faster.
She finally reaches the finishing point. Five boys cross the finish line ahead of her. And Virginie, the girl who has never been in Kigali, the girl who has never ran in a professional running race, is the first girl to run through the finish line.
“The challenge I had when I was running was that I did not know how long was five kilometres,” she explains.“At first I thought it would be a shorter distance. I started at a high speed, later, I realised we were getting far from the stadium and I felt discouraged. However, other children who were a few metres ahead of me encouraged me to move on, but reduced the speed.”
Virginie receives awards before government ministers and congratulations from many other VIPs. In addition to the awards she receives from the athletics federation, World Vision Rwanda gives her a package with a variety of prizes, including shoes, a new uniform and an envelope with 20,000 Rwanda Francs [33 US dollars] prize money.
“I will give the money to my mother as soon as I get home. She will be happy and proud of me. She will not hesitate to allow me to participate the next time if I get the opportunity,” Virginie says.