Helping Children Stay in School
Sports can also be a powerful tool to motivate children to continue their education. In countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya, just 10-20% of primary school graduates continue on to secondary school. A Running Start Foundation recently contributed to the construction of five new classroom buildings at the local primary school in Bekoji, Ethiopia, where world champions such as Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba attended school as children. We also host races for children in remote and talent-rich areas of East Africa and award prizes in the form of educational assistance. At our most recent children's race in eastern Uganda, we invited the World Champion Dorcus Inzikuru and Commonwealth Games Champion Boniface Kiprop to address and inspire the children to embrace athletics and to remain in school. In 2008, we'll be paying the secondary school fees for about a dozen impoverished but very talented student/athletes in Iten, Kenya.
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