I don't consider myself a natural runner. My normal routine is an alarm buzzing and pulling me from my dream. Part of my brain desperately tries to hold on to sleep while the other half urges me to turn off the annoying noise before it wakes my wife. Moving in slow motion, arms leaden, brain muddled, I fumble with the supposedly "intuitive" touch screen of my phone (while cursing Steve Jobs for not coming up with a device better designed to be used when your still half awake).

 

Then comes the conversation with myself. I think of all the reasons why I shouldn't get up. I am pretty sure I am coming down with a little cold; I should get my rest. After all what kind of husband would I be if I got my wife sick? If I am sick I can't do all the things I have to do.

 

Excuses failing, my feet hit the floor. I sit on the edge of the bed, searching internally for... drive? Desire? Will power? Inspiration? As quietly as possible in a dark room with a half asleep body I put on the appropriate attire and tie up my shoes.

 

Then comes the first obstacle course, a kettle and jar of coffee, smells of breakfast, a chair and book begging me to just take a second to sit and read. I know that if I stop I will never make it- I won't run today. I make it to the door, I click on the timer and off I go. I know the adverts say running is freeing, liberating but for me it is hard.

 

Having said that all of the above is completely cancelled out if it is raining. If it is raining the alarm is switched off, the cover goes back on, the coffee is made and the shoes remain untied. Today was a rainy run.

 

Unlike normally when the rain stops me before i start this time it began to rain when I was halfway through my run. I was making good time and was over half way through when I felt the first few drops. Immediately I began thinking of the quickest short cut home, I planned a route, I looked for shelter and managed to convince myself that calling it quits was the best course of action.

 

Then a thought popped into my head. A memory of a little boy I had seen once. It was while we were teaching in Uganda. The heavens had opened and it was pouring down. As the roof of the school was made of tin it was impossible to be heard so lessons were put on hold. We sat in a spare room and waited. As we sat we looked across to the primary school and noticed all the children running back and forth across the field. They would run away empty handed and return with stick and twigs. They were collecting firewood so they could cook the rice and beans the school provided for their lunch. Even in the pouring rain the job had to be done and so off they went.

 

For a while we watched this exercise when all of a sudden we spotted him. At first we didn't take notice but then his bright smile and strange movements caught our attention. In the midst of this work, in the centre of the field and in the pouring rain one boy had decided to stop and dance. We don't know what prompted it and had to look at each other to make sure we weren't seeing things but there he was waving arms, clapping and generally getting his groove on in the midst of a storm. We stopped and smiled, then laughed before finally thinking to film him.

Boy dancing in the rain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D255mlfeeyU&feature=youtu.be

 

I love this memory and as I thought about it I managed to wrestle my mind round to thinking that if this boy could dance in the rain with such joy and enthusiasm then maybe I could manage to keep running. So I did. In fact I ran faster on the second half of the run than I did in the first and the time flew as I thought about this picture. This boy became my inspiration to keep going.

 

As I ran I thought about what a perfect picture this boy was of life in Uganda. Life there is hard, it is harsh, it is painful and it is like living in a constant storm. However there are also glimmers of light, moments of hope and times when joy breaks through. At the moment you can find lots of places selling plaques that say "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass but about learning to dance in the rain." In Uganda I saw this taken to heart. While there we found that no-one knows if they have tomorrow, everyone is unsure where food will come from or where they will find the resources they need. Yet despite this they have learnt to dance in the rain. They have learnt to be grateful and enjoy what they have in a way that we with our comforts find hard. They celebrate life, they make the most of every day, cherish everything they have and love everyone they know. Strangely it seems that all the pain they experience makes these brief moments of light all the more beautiful.

 

In a weeks time I am running a marathon to raise money for the school that I spent time in. We can't make the storm pass in Uganda but we can hopefully give a few more children a reason to dance in the rain. Although we have our own storms to face it is a great privilege to be able to help someone else to learn to dance in theirs. 

 

I hope it doesn't rain this weekend, but if it does the image of this boy and his ability to dance in the rain will be my inspiration to carry on running in the rain, if only to bring a bit more light to one more person.

 

If you would like to help make a difference than any amount given will be greatly appreciated and you can do so here:

https://assets.gogetfunding.com/project/nyarugunda-secondary-school-1 

Thank you for your support, you have no idea what a difference it will make.