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As a way of fostering a healthy community and promoting cohesion, St. Monica Catholic church in Kitengela organized a community run with the intention of bringing people from different cultural backgrounds, ages, professions and tribes together.
Kajiado county Deputy Governor, Martin Moshisho who flagged off the exercise said that the run benefited not only the Kitengela community but also the county government as they have been encouraged to come up with activities that encourage healthy lifestyles and support talents that can be realized internationally.
“People have turned out both young and old, such activities are very important because there are people who earn through athletics and there are people who realize their talent through such activities, they are healthy for the body and enable people to deal with family lifestyle diseases. We will see how the county and other stakeholders will come in and support such activities to find their way globally,” said Moshisho.
Hilary Mogoya, the organizing committee chairman of the community run revealed that the run is scheduled to happen annually as they aspire to keep growing and make it an international event that would help them get together as a community.
“We have all intentions and aspirations to bring a multicultural town together. Kitengela is one of the fastest growing towns and such events will spur more cohesion and more people to identify with Kajiado. The event will take place annually and we are glad that the 2024 edition had a massive audience despite the weather,” revealed Mogoya.
Joyce Nduku, a 70-year-old athlete from Kitengela bulls club has been participating in marathon for two decades and according to her, the scare of developing arthritis and her interest in running encouraged her to always participate in community runs, a decision she has never regretted.
“I had a scare of arthritis and so I picked up running 20 years ago. It has been a great journey I did not know I would take running to the standards I have taken it, since my first run at the Standard Chartered marathon I have never looked back. We runners who have been doing it for the last 20 years have experience so if people keep up running it will help them with physical and mental health at the same time avoid diseases that come with unhealthy lifestyle,” narrated Nduku.