In the Sports School, the running team together with the principal planted a “Peace Tree” and placed a commemorative plaque
“We traveled 20 thousand kilometers to be here with you.” So the torchbearer of the international team of The Peace Run Jana Dushkova from the Czech Republic addressed the students and teachers of the “Vasil Levski” Sports School in Plovdiv this morning. Hundreds of young athletes, (and why not future Olympians of Plovdiv and Bulgaria) welcomed the Torch of Peace in the square of the school.
Jana Dushkova spoke about the start of this year’s run, which started in March from Rome, with a torch lit by Pope Francis, then passed first through Italy and Portugal, heading north to the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Just two weeks ago, the team crossed Moldova.
“This torch is a symbol of the dream of love and peace of the people of the world,” Jana said, recalling the words of the initiator of the run, Sri Chinmoy, that the Earth should be a Home of Unity. “Sri Chinmoy is a great dreamer of peace and believes that there are far more things that bring people together than those that divide them.”
Each of the international team of runners introduced themselves, naming the capital of the country they came from, and the students had to guess the country – Czech Republic, Serbia, Australia, Great Britain, Italy, Ukraine, Mexico and New Zealand, and also Bulgaria. The meeting in Plovdiv with the torch of peace was symbolic today, when the world is facing the horror of a new war in the Middle East, before the shells went off in Ukraine.
The principal of the school, Ruzha Genova, accepted the torch with gratitude and passed it on to the students. “Without peace, the world cannot exist and neither can sport,” she said, recalling the disruption of sporting events during World War II.
“Vasil Levski” School from today becomes part of the “Sri Chinmoy – Peace Center” International Program, announced the organizers from Bulgaria.
Three students from the school received the “Honorary Torchbearer of Peace” award – an award that Hristo Stoichkov, Madeleine Radukanova, Ivet Goranova, Ivet Lalova, Carl Lewis, Nelson Mandela and other prominent athletes and peace-lovers still carry. Today, students Vanessa Emilova, Julian Shopkin and Alexander Kolev joined the elite team of honorary torchbearers.
A commemorative plaque was placed in the school yard and a “Peace Tree” was planted.
Finally, the students joined in the run for a bit, running alongside the Torch of Peace. So they sent the runners on the long road ahead.
#traveled #thousand #youAgro #Plovdiv
