118
illiams
Simon W
Photographs by:
forgetting his woes for a day and making new friends with young games he was hollered at for autographs by the younger boys and
men from other tribes. But, for more reasons than the brightness of clearly hailed a hero of sorts. Tergat believed the games had a place
his yellow jacket, Charles stood out in the crowd scene. His piercing on the peacemaking agenda. “The country looked like it was going
stare and hands firmly pocketed did not beckon me over in the to the rocks,” he said. “Where there is peace, there is prosperity.
Kenyan way to which I had become accustomed. This is what we want to see more of.” But the former athlete was a
Nevertheless, I approached him. I knew it was his team that long way from Ngatia now. Ngatia shrugged when I asked if Tergat
was celebrating when one of them whacked him on the back on provided inspiration.
the way past. I ducked to avoid the follow-through. I asked him Ngatia and young men like him, vulnerable in their desperation
why he wasn’t celebrating with them. He said: “You know we are all for purpose in their strongest most useful years are the most
jobless don’t you? That’s why we can be here. I only came because I important while hardest to reach. He did concede though: “I have
thought we might all get a trophy or something useful.” learned something today: we all stop working when it rains.”
Charles Ngatia was to become one of those who asked if he Ngatia is the sort of young man targeted by the Peace Dream
could come back to England with me. The 24-year-old farmer plants Foundation, a collection of grass-roots sports projects aimed at
‘Where there is peace, there is prosperity. This is what
we want to see more of’
maize in April and harvests in December. Between times, he lives bringing about peace by developing athletic skill and character in
off the little money he has made and calls himself “jobless”. “I am fit marginalised community members. John Gehring, director of the
and could do anything,” he said, “we all could.” He wasn’t trying to foundation has led sport events for peace for over 20 years. He said:
convince me, or market himself in case I was in a position to employ “Sport done right, with reflection, evaluation and experimentation is
him. Ngatia was going through the motions in his explanations as absolutely what is needed to create a culture of peace”.
much as he was when he asked if I was married. He had been let Gehring has seen harsher realities than those Kenya is
down over and over, been told that after this, his first time voting, experiencing, put aside for the duration of a sports match and
he would not see the politicians making promises to him, once perceptions altered for good. “I’ve seen the Tamil Sri Lankan
personally, again. I felt stupid when I said without thinking, “you team honoured and the players embraced by a whole Sri Lankan
should be a politician”, so hard not to let slip a watery apology on delegation during the civil war. They all shared pride in the national
behalf of the haves. victory.” Kenya, it seems, is intent on moving down the same path.
On offer to Ngatia that day was a role model in locally-born
internationally-renowned marathon runner Paul Tergat, at the Elizabeth Ings is a freelance journalist
126-127 Kenya.indd 2 07/09/2009 23:46
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