The McMaster University Kenya Crew, ready to run.
In the summer of 2006, a group of students from McMaster University travelled to Kenya’s Maasai Mara. They returned home to Hamilton, Ontario, with lasting memories of the vast Kenyan landscape and the vibrant Kenyan kids. But they also returned with some sadder memories: the challenges faced by the Maasai.
“A lot of us were greatly impacted by seeing the Mara River during our trip,” remembers McMaster student Martha Orgill. “Seeing the Mamas do their laundry and collect drinking water while cattle were upstream defecating is not an image one easily forgets.”
Returning to school
As classes got rolling in September, a group of students who had travelled to Kenya came together to share in another experience: they loved to run.
It didn’t take long for Lauren Payne to connect the two experiences, suggesting the group do a run to fundraise for a project in rural Kenya. They decided to run a half-marathon—21 km—to build a well in a Maasai community, remembering the milky-brown Mara River used as drinking water.
“Water was such a valued resource [in Kenya],” Martha recalls. “It's hard to place a value on water, but we decided that running 21 km was a substantial commitment on our part to show our dedication to the project.”
Setting the goal
The 11-member group, called the Kenya Crew, divided the fundraising goal of $6,000 among its members to make the amount less intimidating. The group embarked on their fundraising journey by sending e-mails to friends and family who had already heard about their Kenya experiences.
AAfter watching a video created by the group on their effort, one overseas relative of Martha’s immediately took action.“Just saw the vid,” she said. But her message didn’t stop there. “I am so inspired by your effort. A cheque is in the mail.”
Starting to train
With fundraising underway, the Kenya Crew began to train for the half-marathon, which was scheduled for March 4—smack dab in the middle winter.
A typical week consisted of 45-minute run Tuesdays, hill training on Thursdays and an extra-long endurance run on Sundays. Starting in September with 15-minute runs, the group was soon running for an hour and a half or more.
On one training run at Princess Point in Hamilton, the group experienced a funny but powerful moment. Martha describes the scene:
“People were skating on the ice, the sky was clear and blue and the sun was just setting behind the trees. We were quite overcome with feelings of appreciation for Canada, a country where we have so many rights provided for us and the freedom and opportunity to do almost anything. I will admit, we did sing the national anthem right there on the path as the sun set. We later laughed at ourselves!”
Running for Kenya
On the day of the run—March 4, 2007—the Kenya Crew ran the 21 km half-marathon side by side.
“The final 200 meters of the run were emotional for a number of us,” recalls Lauren. “Martha and I ran the final stretch holding hands; Kelly and Erin Peters teared up at the end.”
