2022 Toronto Waterfront Marathon – in Kenya

CES’s long relationship with the Toronto Waterfront Marathon Charity Challenge is taking a new twist this year – with participation in Kenya.

This was made possible, in a way, by COVID. The global pandemic has made it necessary to do many such events “virtually”. Over the past two years, participants have set out their own running or walking course and doing it in a socially distanced way. 

CES Director Carl Friesen and other board members plan to participate in the Marathon – in Canada and in Kenya. A number of CES Kenya alumni will join Carl on September 24 to do a 5 Km walk from Kakamega Town to the Divine Providence Orphanage. CES has a longstanding relationship with the orphanage (DPO). Traditionally, our Alumni have visited in friendship to show some love to the children – engaging them in games, providing food supplies, and enjoying a meal with the children.

CES Alumni leadership will also use this event as a time to reconnect with each other, as they haven’t had an opportunity to meet for close to two years, due to COVID.

The Alumni will be taking charge of organizing the 2022 event. The plan is for Carl and the CES Alumni team to meet at the CES office in Kakamega and walk the 5K distance to the DPO. They’ll carry with them some of what Kenyans call “shopping” – in this case, groceries such as bags of maize and rice – as gifts to the DPO. After some time with the children, we’ll walk back to the CES office, a round trip of 10 Km.

Some of our students will be included as official participants in the Marathon, with their admission fees paid by CES. We’ll be looking for sponsors to support each one. This charity challenge will raise funds for education scholarships. In this way team members will reach out to others, sharing what they have received, a better start to their lives.