The Joys of Jogging

The Joys of Jogging

I love being active and am so thankful for the many opportunities I have had to jog and walk during my time in Zimbabwe, so far.  The area around the Sandra Jones Centre has two roads that are perfect for early morning jogs.  One of the roads that I jog on at 6am is also the same road that many of our children and many other children walk on to get to school.  Many mornings I go running by myself but people join me on my run.  Sometimes the children from the Centre want to run with me and other mornings children join me that I have never met before.  It is quite impressive how far some of the children can run especially in their dressy school shoes.  The other route that I have started running on I can go further and this is a more major road with nice big sidewalks.  I often find other runners on these paths, which is exciting to find some jogging camaraderie.

One week it was really cold (which occasionally happens here) and so I did not get up early to run I waited until the afternoon when it was a bit warmer.  The older girls were home from school by the time I went jogging.  That cold week the girls started to ask if they could come with me.  Ever since that week, each day I have girls asking me if they can go running with me.  When the girls come along we never run the whole time, we run a little bit then walk a little bit then we run again.  It has been a great way to help the girls at the Centre get exercise but even more important it has been a great time to build relationships.  While we walk we often talk, laugh and relax together.  It is also a good opportunity for the girls to get away from the Centre and the stresses of school work.  I am so thankful for their excitement and enthusiasm for being active.  I hope it continues during my time here.  

During the weekends with my host family, I have enjoyed finding places to safely walk.   It takes me about an hour to walk into town which I enjoy doing when I am meeting up with friends.  My host mom has also began jogging with my around the neighborhood once a weekend.  One of my friends and I also often try to meet up on Sunday's to go for walks because we live close to each other on the weekends. 

I am SO grateful for all the people who have joined me in being active in Zimbabwe!   

-Elena