Kenyan Premier, Envoy and Mass. Governor to attend Marathon Celebrations in Honor of Kenyan Runners
The Kenyan Ambassador to the US, H.E Elkanah Odembo extreme right, addresses Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick( second right, back to the camera) during a recent meeting with at the state House in Boston. With him is Bishop Joshua Wambua second right, Wilson Kiriungi, extreme left, Dennis Muhambe, second right.
By Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa News, posted March 31, 2011 :Updated, April 3, 10.00 pm
BOSTON, Mass._Visiting Kenyan Prime Minister, Hon. Raila A. Odinga, together with Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick as well as the Kenyan Ambassador to the US, His Excellency Elkanah Odembo will be among the top guests to attend a planned pre-marathon celebration in honor of Kenyan runners who for over 20 years have dominated the popular 26.5 mile race.
The race traditionally starts at a small village in the outskirts of Boston known as Hopkinton, up the agonizing Heartbreak Hill and down to the finish line at Copley square in downtown Boston.
This year, the race will take place on the Patriots day, Monday April 18.
However, two days before the race, Kenyans have organized a pre-marathon celebration to honor the past and present Kenyan runners.
The event will take place at the Back Bay Event Center located at 180 Berkeley st, Boston on Friday April 15 starting at 7pm.
About 15 current marathon runners who will be facing off traditional arc rivals and neighbors in the motherland, Ethiopia on Marathon Monday, led by defending men’s title champion, Robert Cheruiyot, and the silver medalist in the women’s title, Salina Kosgei will attend the event.
Also, several others past Kenyan marathon runners will be in town for the ground breaking event.They include trail blazers and record setters, Cosmos Ndeti, Robert Cheruiyot, Catherine Ndereba among others.
Kenyan Premier, Hon. Raila Odinga
The Prime minister, who is a frequent visitor to the US, will be in the country on official business. He will visit several Kenyan communities in different states.
During the Boston Marathon celebration, Odinga will be accompanied by 3 other Government ministers as well as several permanent secretaries.
“We put together this event to honor our Kenyan marathon runners who for the past 20 years have won and dominated the Boston Marathon but our government has never recognized them”, said Bishop Joshua Wambua , pastor of the Rapture Harvest Mission International church in Wakefield, Mass, and Director of the Ambassador’s council, New England region.
The Ambassador’s Council is an organization launched in the fall of last year when the new Kenyan envoy to the US, Elkanah Odembo met several Kenyan community leaders in Boston en-route to a lecture presentation at Harvard University. The goal of the council is to link the Kenyan Embassy in the US to the Kenyan community through regional community leaders.
According to Bishop Wambua, the Marathon celebrations have been put together by the Ambassador’s council, which is headed by the Ambassador himself, in conjunction with Wilson Kiriungi , founder of Run with Kenyans, a non- profit organization started recently by the enterprising Kenyan from Worcester, Mass..
“The idea came about as one of the questions asked by Kiriungi during the Jamhuri day celebrations last year at the Umass Boston who wanted to Know why the Government never honors our Kenyan runners”, said Bishop Wambua during an interview with Ajabu Africa News.
“The ambassador promised to take up the matter and help do some sort of recognition”, he added.
Bishop Wambua added that when the Ambassador went to visit Kenya recently, he urged him to impress upon the Prime Minister to come and share the moments of the Marathon celebrations together with Kenyans in Boston.
Ambassador Odembo and presents a gift from kenya to Gov. Deval Patrick as Bishop Wambua looks on.
In planning for the celebrations, the Ambassador Odembo, together with members of the Ambassadors council as well as Run with Kenyans founder visited Gov. Deval Patrick’s office mid this month to invite him officially.
The party also visited the offices of John Hancock, the official Boston Marathon sponsors, the offices of the Boston Athletic Association, the main organizers of the 114 year old renowned race as well as the Children’s Hospital of Boston.
According to the Bishop, the governor accepted the invitation and is expected to address Kenyans alongside the Prime minister during the event on Friday.
There is a vast, untapped potential among Kenyan runners back home. We need to recognize and honor them so that we can start realizing their potential”, said Wilson Kiriungi, founder and president of the Run with Kenyans organization.
“This event will be one way to honor our runners as well as brand Kenya as a great place to visit”, he added during an interview with Ajabu Africa News.
The Friday event will be followed by business networking expo at the Hynes Convention center located at 900 Boylston st, Boston, where Kenyans have been invited to meet and greet the Kenyan marathon runners at a booth reserved for them.
The business expo will start from 10am and last all day. It has been organized by the Boston Athletic Association. The Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest) and the Kenyan Tourist Board (KTB) as well as a few other Kenyan companies will be present to showcase their products.
Wilson Kiriungi, founder of Run with Kenyas, speaks with Gov. Deval Patrick
During the following day, Sunday, April 17, more celebrations will take place when the Marathon runner, the Ambassador and other guests will attend an Easter celebration prayers at the Saint Stephens church in Lowell.
“The prayers have been organized by the Kenya Pastor’s Fellowship led by Bishop David Karaya and hosted by Rev. Samuel Kimohu, where special prayers to bless the runners will be held followed by a goat eating party”, said Bishop Wambua.
When all is said and done, the climax of the marathon celebrations is expected to be at the finishline at Copley square the following Monday where Kenyan runners will battle it out with equally dangerous Ethiopian athletes with a few Moroccan runners adding to the see saw of witnessed on die-hard African fans who have been attending the race.
However, Prime Minister Odinga will not attend the Easter prayers celebrations; neither will he witness the actual race as he is already scheduled to leave the country on Saturday for Kenya in order to keep up with his busy schedule of official duties.
Members of the Kenyan Pastors Fellowship meet with Ambassador Odembo during his recent trip to Boston to organize for Marathon celebrations.
Over the last 4 years, the numbers of Kenyans at the finish line has been growing by leaps and bounds after the excitement and party mood witnessed at the street level when Kenyans win or were reported by Ajabu Africa News, a division of Ajabu Media Communications.
Last year, Ajabu Media became the first Kenyan media company ever to interview actual marathon winners at the Copley Plaza Hotel.
“I am very excited to see Kenyans here in the US come to celebrate with us. This makes it feel better and we hope next year to come and defend the title again”, said Robert Cheruiyot, the elite men’s race 2010 defending champion.
After the end of the race, Kenyans will congregate at the Jakes Restaurant on 37 Stuart st, a few minutes walk from the finish line for an after party sponsored by Ajabu Media.
The free entry after party will also be attended by Ambassador Odembo and his entourage, government and business dignitaries, the Ambassador’s council and any other Kenyan who might be interested to share moments of the adrenalin rush before they start fading away.
However, seating is limited and interested Kenyans or Africans from any country are requested to pre-register in order to ensure a seating which will be on a first come first served basis.
2010 Elite male defending champion, Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya during an interview with Ajabu TV at the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston
The party will start from 1.30 pm and end at 4.30 pm so as to allow fans time to walk back to the Copley Plaza Hotel for the official Awards ceremony conducted by the Boston Athletics Association.
Doors to the awards ceremony are usually opened for the general public at 5pm with the actual recognition of the winners starting at about 6pm.
Last year, Ajabu Media recorded a scant attendance by Kenyans in the fully packed room, largely due of lack of advance information and conflicting work schedules.
This year however, a large number of Kenyans is expected to attend the gala night honoring the most effective Ambassadors for Kenya in the US with the back to back victories by Kenyans leaving thousands of Americans and international audience at the actual event, and millions more tracking the race on TV, awestruck with the speed, stamina and mental resilience demonstrated by Kenyans on the punishing 26.5 mile race, year after year.
Correction to note: In our initial story, we had indicated that the Kenyan Prime Minister has already been in the US visiting various Kenyan communities. That information was erroneous. According to credible information from the Kenyan Embassy in Washington DC, the prime minister will be coming to meet various communities but has not yet arrived in the US. Ajabu Africa News highly apologizes for the inaccurate information.
