Soweto Marathon for a cause
First it was New York, followed by London, Paris and China. But this year Queen Serobe made a decision to return to her roots and run the Soweto Marathon for the first time, and it will be for a good cause.
What started as running for fun in 2003 turned into running marathons at the age of fourty. Serobe can’t tell whether this is due to a midlife crisis but admits that it is fun taking your body to the next level and to do something extraordinary.
“Marathon running is the best form of sightseeing (by foot). One gets to see, feel and touch areas that you won’t have access to by car, bus or train,” explained Serobe on why she chose to run marathons.
Running for a cause
What started as an ordinary day turned out to be anything but ordinary. It began with meeting a long lost special friend at a High school reunion in mid October. She then learned that the friend’s son, Tshego Kakulubela, had a special story and that he was different from most other 6 year-olds. While he is caring towards others and acts like other children his age, deafness affects his everyday ability to communicate and understand people around him.
Tshego got by throughout most of his life by reading lips when people talk to him and he participates in normal everyday activities around his friends without a problem. The only problem is his hearing. Tshego was confirmed profoundly deaf in 2008 after assessment at Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital. This means that even the loudest sounds producedmay not be detected. Since then not even the latest hearing aid technology seemed to make have made a difference. It was recently confirmed that Tshego is a candidate for a cochlear implant, but that the operation will cost R230 000, an amount that his parents could not afford.
Because she learned about Tshego while training for her first ever Soweto Marathon, Serobe decided to take on the cause and run the Soweto Marathon to create awareness. In just a couple of days R30 000 was raised for the Run4Tshego cause. Serobe said that they won’t stop raising money after the race and after their goal has been achieved. She will continue to raise money for the Foundation for children with a Hearing loss in South Africa.
Serobe tells that she is the slowest runner in her running group with a marathon time of 4:45.00 but that she just wants to finish the race as part of the Run4Tshego campaign. By running the Soweto Marathon for Tshego, she hopes to attract more interest in the cause.
Information regarding sms donations is available on Facebook: Run4Tshego
The Soweto Marathon is made possible by Energade who will provide energy drinks and water to all athletes on the day, Netcare 911 as the official supplier of medical services, the Johannesburg Expo Centre as the official start and finish venue of the Soweto Marathon as well as the City of Johannesburg, official partner of the event.
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