In 2008 I met Arjan Pathmamanoharan.  He was coming to visit our good friends Pieter and Lornah where I was staying.  A most interesting chap who arrived in Kenya during the clashes.  As soon as she arrived he disappeared, being evacuated with a group of other runners, mainly Dutch.  He very kindly spearheaded a fund raiser in Utrecht, Holland for us.   During this event they held a World Record attempt on the 10.000 meters for women, the Dutch Championships 10.000 meters, and some other events.  The world star, Meselech Melkamu, won the elite race.  I was not there, I wish I was…  fun to look back at some of the wonderful peeps who helped fund raise for Shoe4Africa!!

From the organizers:

“The organisation developed an education programme about Sports and Culture about Kenya or Ethiopia. In ten lessons children will learn a lot about the culture in those country’s and also get two active workshops like Djembé, African dance and African cooking. One lesson is attached to this e-mail to give you an impression, it is in Dutch however. Further, children get an active sports lesson from athletic trainers and children make contact with professional athletes in Kenya and Ethiopia through our website. 1300 kids in Utrecht work with this project which we offer to them for free. During the event on 14th july there will be many activities wherin those children can participate, they will display there (art)works the’ve made during the education project to the public, they will participate in a clinic by Dutch professional athletes and will run 10 minutes on track wherin they will run as much rounds as possible to collect money for charity. Half of the schools will collect donations for charity in Kenya and half of the schools will collect donations for charity in Ethiopia. In addition, youth atletes of our club will also participate in the sponsorrace and will collect donations for charity.

Marijke Dijkstra
Stichting Topatletiek versterkt breedtesport

Facebook post  — HERE