Running for Peace, Tegla Loroupe

In this post I want to introduce one of our peace avocates, in the field of sports.

Tegla Chepkite Loroupe, mentioned in prior post, is a long-distance track and road runner who holds several world marathon records from Kenya. She has been making an effort to spread the idea of peace in many ways.

 As an athlete Tegla Loroupe is a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club. It was created by a Monaco-based international organization ‘Peace and Sport’ has 54 famous committed athletes to serving world peace through sport.

 Loroupe is also a global spokeswoman for women's rights and education. We may know how she strives for children and women in bad condition through her jobs. She is an International Sports Ambassador for UNICEF and has established Tegla Loroupe Peace Academy and orphanage in north-west Kenya.

Tegla Loroupe’s work is neither just indirect nor passive. She directly approaches to the basic cause of violence, WAR. In 2003, Loroupe launched an annual series of Peace Marathons "Peace Through Sports". Being held in 2006 and 2008, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ambassadors and government officials run with warriors and nomadic groups in Kenya, Uganda and Sudan, to have hundreds of warriors from six battling tribes laid down their weapons. In 2006, she traveled with many celebritied in many fields to several mojor cities in the world like New York and Beijing carrying a diplomatic mission to bring an end to Darfur conflict.

Loroupe won the "Community Hero" category at the 2007 Kenyan Sports Personality of the Year awards. As I come to know these kinds of deeds she had done, the solution to make real peace on our globe is this- let’s not just support the activities of peace makers, but do things we can do in our daily life. How would it be if we keep seeking for the way to take part in those activities in person?