We are walking for a good cause – Participants share highlights of the 60km Remembrance walk
By David Mujuni
Despite the Sunday morning rain that started at about 8am, a number of participants were able to complete their 10km task each in the Joe Walker 60km Remembrance Road Safety Walk. There were cases where some walkers covered over 20km after some of their teammates failed to make it.
According to the plan, each six-member team was supposed to cover 60km with each participant walking 10km in an activity that started at 6am at UMA, Lugogo in Kampala.
We talked to a number of participants who shared their experiences with us.
Hosea Wasswa, who was the first walker from Team Nkozi says he decided to join the relay walk to honour some of the friends he has lost to road crashes, adding that he is passionate about exercising.
“My go-to exercise is running and jogging. I have participated in marathons and completed successfully. Our biggest challenge in our team is that we are only two and we have to complete the 60 kilometres. I have done 20 kilometres and my colleague will cover 40 kilometres,” he said.
Hosea Wasswa after walking 20km. His team had only two members so they had to split the distance between them.
“Walking is good for my health and every Sunday I work out. I’m sure we are going to win, I trust my guy,” he added.
Prima Mukimba, who represented team Great Treks as the second walker preferred to cover 20 kilometres.
“It was exciting, I didn’t meet any challenges. I liked the adventure and also getting to meet these other walkers. This is something that I love to do, I have seen people do it. This is my very first time to walk with Joe but I have walked before during the Kampala to Entebbe walk,” Mukimba said.
“I remember they did a walk to Mbale and I was following online and I have been a silent follower from that time so when I saw this one, I definitely had to get in,” she said.
Prima Mukimba says the walk has been a way of preparing her body for challenges such as mountain climbing.
As an experienced mountain climber, Mukimba says the walk was a way of preparing her body for more activities.
“A walk like this builds my ability to take on such challenges (mountain climbing). I don’t think my team is going to win but I can confidently say we are going to make it to the finish line because each one of us has showed up and everyone is playing their part to see that we make it to the finish line,” Mukimba said.
Andrew Barasa from team Trail Blazers is another participant who walked for 20 kilometres because the person he handed over to, wanted morale to finish the journey.
“First all just walking 20 kilometres is the highlight of the day for me but also meeting people and the experience at this event for the first time was interesting. I feel fit and the cause we are walking for is a good one. Road safety is something everyone should be willing to do something about so I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to create more awareness,” Barasa said.
“I’m not sure if we are going to win but I think completing the 60km is the goal for now,” he added.
Andrew Barasa is one of those who has walked more than 10km. In his case he did so to motivate his team member.
We also had an interesting chat with Kaita Denis from The Dietitians team who was covered 10km as the third walker.
“It has been a great walk, I think I would have finished sooner but I got lost somewhere but eventually I got the route and I finished. I think it was unfair for some of us because my Busega guys are going to have a straight walk. I decided to join the walk because as dietitians, what we are trying to do is ensure people are maintaining a healthy weight, meaning they have to do regular exercises,” he said.
Denis Kaita (second right) was the third member of his team on the walk.
“I think we should be able to win, at worst maybe first runner up,” he confidently added.
