Day 383: Runner's World at Tumaini!

by claire a. williams, claire@trippingonwords.com

When Kar(l)icho, 20, found out at the end of his 26 kilometer training run that Runner's World was coming, he was happy. Specifically, this teenager who has been through everything and back again and yet has maintained a true heart of gold, said calmly: "If I open this magazine one day to see Tumaini, I will not be able to hide my teeth."

We agree.

Six days ago, we heard that Nairobi based journalist Zoe Alsop was coming to do a story on Hope Runs for the August issue of Runner's World. It happened when I was in the shower, and Lara was doing I don't remember what, and it was all very exciting. Additionally, for once the kids actually had some understanding of what our good news meant, as they have read and reread the five sad copies of Runner's World we brought over to Kenya so many times that only one cover remains.

Four days later, Zoe showed up to stay with us, and we could not have been more impressed. In her three days in our apartment, she proved a fun(ny), interesting, witty, marathoner and journalist who seemed to be as entertained by the children as we are. Secondarily, she brought chocolate.

The children, for their part, are starstruck that "the writer" and her "small mobile" (dictaphone) indeed holds all the power of putting their faces in the glossy pages. Sure, some still don't understand of course. Like when Edwin took the new copy of Runner's World Zoe brought with her and tore it apart trying to find himself in it saying over and over again, "We are where?"

Before Zoe leaves tomorrow, the kids will have more celebrity sightings, when John Ngugi the Kenyan world champion/Olympian comes back for his second round of tea with the kids, and the photographer doing the shoot for Runner's World, J Carrier, comes with all his fancy equipment.

In all, we are so grateful to Runner's World for finding us, and thrilled at the chance that such an article might bring some good to this place and to the aims of Hope Runs out here. What we (Lara) are not thrilled about is the complete lack of foresight that went into our fun little experiment with the hair clippers last week. Although Lara's head is not shaved per say (because the clippers we have access to are actually broken), it is uneven. So she's got that going for her.