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By AARON MUELLER
Niles Daily Star
Niles had an international flavor Wednesday morning when eight runners, representing six different countries and participating in the World Harmony Run, stopped at City Hall.
Daily Star photo/AARON MUELLER Salil Wilson of Australia, a participant in the World Harmony Run, talks to children in the YMCA summer camps, who welcomed the runners to Niles Wednesday.
A group of Niles police officers, city employees and children welcomed the runners, who were carrying a torch on their way through the city.
The World Harmony Run USA began in New York City in April, making stops across the country and will make its final stop again in New York.
Salil Wilson, an Australian citizen, has been participating in the World Harmony Runs since it began in 1987. He says his passion for peace and meeting new people gives him the endurance to keep running year after year.
“Everyone has this yearning for peace and harmony inside themselves, and the run is like a catalyst,” he said. “It allows people to give expression to that yearning.”
Wilson is able to see the good in humanity when he makes stops in various cities, including his stay in Niles Tuesday night.
“There’s so much kindness that flows out of people. The families that hosted us here were so nice,” he said. “It’s like standing underneath a waterfall of human kindness.”
Sukhada Korshunova of Perm, Russia is participating in the run for the first time this year.
“I was looking to do something outside of myself, do something for people,” she said. “Otherwise you have your job, you earn money and you are lonely. The main thing is self giving.”
Korshunova said the people she meets along her journey “inspire you and give you energy.”
The runners talked with dozens of children from the Niles-Buchanan YMCA youth camp at City Hall and allowed each of them to hold the World Harmony Run torch.
Atulya Berube of San Diego told the children about the reason they were running thousands of miles across the country — to spread a message of unity and peace.
“We’re one world family,” he said. “If we treat each other like one big family, we will see world harmony.”
Berube believes spreading the message of peace to youth is important.
“You see groups of kids like this and it totally inspires you, because they are the ones that are really going to carry the torch,” Berube said.
The runners will now head to Three Rivers and Kalamazoo before reaching their final stop in New York City on Aug. 17.
The World Harmony Run is a global relay promoting international friendship and understanding in more than 100 nations across the world.
Tags: World Harmony Run