run along now

Just finished with my first ever run with my students. It was amazing.

The less good: Right at the end of the run, within a hundred yards of the school gate, we're sort of running "through town". Everyone in town naturally stops and stares at the sight of a hundred high school girls and their one muzungu teacher stampeding through the street. As I run by the side of the road, one twenty-something-year-old guy reaches out and grabs my arm and shakes it, hard. It nearly throws me off my balance. I shake him off and keep running, but I quickly start to see red as my arm stings more and more. After a few more paces, I turn around and walk quickly back to him. The students can see that I'm pissed. I get right up to him and tell him in French that he's never to touch me again, and then I point to my arm and tell him no and bad in Kinyarwanda. As I turn to walk away, he snickers to his friend a bit, so I turn around and stare the smile off his face. As I go to walk back towards the school, all the girls start cheering. I sprint the last fifty yards with the cheers of the girls to back me up.

The very good: These girls are amazing! They took off out of the school gates running with gusto, and kept a totally respectable pace up the giant half-mile hill right and the beginning of the run. They get tired easily, but the slightest encouragement makes them pick up the pace again. I was running my best to try to show them how it's done, but at least six of them kept up with me stride for stride the whole way. They're totally encouraging to each other; there's no one making fun of anyone else, and I am yet again surprised that body image doesn't (outwardly, at least) seem to factor into their actions at all. The thicker ones run just as hard as the thinner ones. Towards the back of the pack, where the most tired runners are, they clap and sing rhythmic songs to keep each other going. Once we were about a mile out of school, we stopped and waited for everyone else to catch up. I led them in stretches, counting down each stretch in a different language, which they find hugely entertaining. High fives and laughs were everywhere. When we were done stretching, we ran back the way we had come, again with enthusiasm and total mutual encouragement among the girls.

I don't want to sound like a cheeseball, and the fact is that these kids drive me crazy for a good 80% of the time. But that other 20% is golden indeed. Their total acceptance and love of each other, their willingness to see the good in others and in their own situations, their excitement over challenges and small privileges, their strength and hard work and intelligence and effort, make these girls a joy to be around. They're certainly teaching me more than I'm teaching them, and today I'm grateful for it.

Here's to Tuesday runs with the students! Hoping to make this a year-long tradition and a good start to the running week.