Saranyu Pearson – the local Peace Run coordinator who will join the team to Adelaide, ran the Peace Torch from our finish location yesterday to meet the rest of the team at City Hall.
On her way she met Caitlyn and Ryder.
The women’s team made their way into Geelong to the City Hall to meet with Robyn Stevens – Manager of Connected Communities.
Robyn welcomed the Peace Run to the city and wished us well on our journey to Adelaide.
Next we ran down to our first school ...
... Mt Duneed Regional Primary School ...
... where we met the students in one of their classrooms.
Everyone learned the song and the accompanying actions.
When it was time to select two students to accept the Certificate of Appreciation, the teachers chose two students who embody the values of the Peace Run. Kiki Ring and Corey Paull both came up to accept the Certificate with Corey reading beautifully the quote from Sri Chinmoy.
Going outside to the oval we all had a moment of peace before running around the oval.
Our second school was just outside of Torquay: Anglesea Primary School.
As we did our guessing game today, when our Indonesian Peace Runner spoke in her native language, every single hand shot up! Little did we know that they also learn Indonesian at this school and had just had a language lesson this morning.
Oliver O’Driscoll, the School Captain, came to accept the Certificate of Appreciation.
Here our team was boosted in number by the addition of three more peace runners: Atul Arora – who will run with the team to Adelaide, along with Pushpendra Uppal and Grahak Cunningham, who had both already been on the Run, but decided to join again for a couple of days.
Our third school was St Therese Primary School where we met with all the Preparatory students aged 5 and 6.
The children loved our skits and all had a quiet, still moment of peace.
Going outside, everyone held the Torch and then joined us in our run around the oval.
With a few minutes to spare before our last meeting for the day, we went to have a look at the beautiful coastline and take a few moments to look at the plaque that was dedicated there a few years ago.
Our final engagement for the day was at Bristol Road.
Here there are two native Ironbark heritage trees that had been saved during the redevelopment of the area.
Here we were met by Councillor Rose Hodge who welcomed us to the area again and remarked how inspirational it was that we went to the Primary Schools to speak about the Peace Run and its message, seeing that these students will themselves be the seed to bring about more peace and tolerance.
Rose has been working in the community for many many years.
Rose felt this was the most perfect place for the Peace Tree dedication, since the trees have been here for generations and generations.
The area is a fun and joyful meeting place; qualities that are heightened when we feel peace in our heart.
