'It fills you with hope for humanity': International torch relay runners stop in Detroit

Detroit Free Press

If you saw someone running through Detroit on Wednesday with a torch in hand, don't be alarmed; they're on a mission to spread peace and harmony with each step of their 69-mile jog.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run, the world's largest international torch relay in the name of world peace, made a stop in Detroit during a 69-mile trek from Ann Arbor to Flat Rock, part of a larger 10,000-mile journey across the U.S. and Canada in the name of world peace.

Since its beginning in 1987, the Peace Run has relayed through 160 nations across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia to allow people from around the world to express their longing for peace, meeting with schools, youth organizations and local officials along the way.

The current USA Canada route group includes a team from 12 countries: Indonesia, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, New Zealand, Latvia, Slovakia, Macedonia, Italy, Australia, Croatia and the U.S. — many of whom switched off with other runners in Chicago and will finish off the four-month-long route in New York City.

Devin Davis, center, 10, of Detroit, takes The Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run torch from Zoe Hardey, 10, of Detroit, as children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan get a chance to hold the torch while being visited by participants from 10 different countries met with the youth while stopping in Detroit as they make their way through Michigan while taking part in history's largest torch relay on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.

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Much of the current team is made up of returning runners, like Anna Khimchinskaia from Russia. She already liked running, but she got involved with the Peace Run back in 2008; she tries to participate in at least one a year to help spread the message.

For Harita Davies from New Zealand, her first time going on a Peace Run back in 1997 gave her a greater sense of purpose, and she has stayed consistent ever since.

"Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to do something to help the world. You know, kids kind of have that (drive). ... Then you get older and you're kind of like, 'I don't really know what I can do to help,' " said Davies. "You feel like you're so small and the world is so big. ... (That's why) I really loved what I heard Sri Chinmoy's whole message, that peace starts with each one of us."

Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan sports program coordinator Ja'Ron Embry carries the Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run torch while running with Darryl Ross Jr., 12, right, of Detroit, and other children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan Dauch Campus in Detroit on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, as runners taking part in The Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run make a bridge and run with them after speaking to the group.
The international team from 10 different countries met with the youth while stopping in Detroit as they make their way through Michigan while taking part in history's largest torch relay.

"I love people, I have like a real love for humanity, so getting to go to all different places and countries and meet people but also to be sharing something really positive and encouraging. ... It just fills you with so much hope for humanity," she said.

Virangini Afzal of Providence, Rhode Island, just joined the running group several days ago. At 72 years old, she's not a runner herself, but she helps drive the runners along their torch relays. She did 60 days' worth of the Peace Run out on the West Coast earlier this year but just joined to finish out this year's USA Canada route because she loves to help with the Peace Run.

"I love it, we all get so much out of it, and so do the kids," she said.

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So, when the international runners stopped at the Boys and Girls Club - Dauch Campus in Detroit, Ja'Ron Embry, the sports program coordinator of the Boys and Girls Club summer camp, said it was rare to see so much involvement and excitement from the kids.

The runners entered, jogging in circles around the Boys and Girls Club, giving high fives, before introducing themselves and playing a game where the kids had to guess each runner's home country and point it out on a map — some wrong answers getting a chuckle out of the staff. Then they stood up to do songs and dances with the kids, before asking them to place their hands over their hearts and imagine that they're breathing in peace.

Todorka Petrovska, left, of Macedonia, squats down while preparing to take part in a girls race with children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan Dauch Campus in Detroit on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. The international team or runners taking part in The Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run met with the youth while stopping in Detroit as they make their way through Michigan while taking part in history's largest torch relay.

"Now, imagine this peace is spreading all around this auditorium, then all across Detroit, then all across Michigan, then all around the world," Salil Wilson, a runner from Australia, told the kids.

Then, the group all headed outside, where the kids were able to pass the torch — making sure to whisper wishes and prayers of love, kindness and world peace into the flames — then went on a small peace run of their own around the club's track, Embry leading with torch in hand and kids trailing behind him.

"What we really wanted to show was a really simple way to make peace happen, by helping one another, by being kind to one another, by encouraging one another," said Wilson. "It's up to each one of us to make the world a better place, so you have to help make the world a better place."