This simple running program is changing lives—of refugees and asylum seekers in Ireland as well as local Irish people. All it does is bring people together for a run, but the effects are profound. Running empowers in myriad ways.
I had the honor of writing about the Sanctuary Runners for a GlobalSport Matters article: “Running club helps those seeking sanctuary find community.”
One participant said: “I came to Ireland with no family at all, but now if anybody would ask me about it, I’d say, ‘Oh, yes, I have a family.’ I feel so very welcome in Ireland, and I never thought running can be so sociable.”
Graham Clifford, one of the founders, explained the shared experience of running together. “You know that feeling when you finish—that elation that you can’t describe—sharing that with somebody else on a regular, repeated basis just builds up a kind of trust,” he said. “It’s very hard to emulate that in another way. There’s something very natural about it.”
He added: “Sometimes there’s a real beauty in running in silence beside somebody. The solidarity is in the sound of the footsteps, rather than in the sound of the voice.”
Here’s hoping this program catches on outside of Ireland.
