A Running Start

Primary School Donation

In June 2006 A Running Start contributed to the construction of five new classroom buildings at the local primary school in Bekoji, Ethiopia. The school, which receives no government or external funding, has approximately 3,500 children and about 100 students per classroom with inadequate classroom facilities and just two toilets. The top-ranked male and female distance runners in the world - Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba - both attended the Bekoji Primary School as children. This project, which benefited from a generous donation from the parents of children attending Oak Ridges Public School in Canada, is our initial effort at expanding the reach of A Running Start to the children and schools in the remote communities that were once home to the current Olympic athletes.

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