The Laikipia Highlands Games (LHG) – Sports for Peace
The LHG are an annual event held yearly at Bogani ya Dume, Laikipia Nature Conservancy, on the highlands of West Laikipia, in loving Memory of Emanuele Pirri-Gallmann, a young man who loved Kenya, his People and Nature lived, and rests in Ol Ari Nyiro where he died in a tragic accident at 17 years of age.
The LHG were founded by his mother, Kuki Gallmann, in 2008 to put together through the fair competition of Sports different groups who had been in conflict after contested elections.
Sports as a means to promoting peace dates back from the times of the first Olympics and has been recognized by the United Nations as a powerful tool to promote reconciliation.
The Laikipia Highlands games, has since become an annual sporting initiative aimed to use the fundamental values of sport in fostering good will, build relations, bridge divisions, and harness the natural competitive spirit of youth and the recognized high potential of Kenya Highlands athletes, to engage in peaceful competitions that put their fitness to test, at the same time offering unique opportunities to emerging new athletes.
The LHG are an unusual and exciting combination of modern athletics and colorful traditional tribal games played amongst African tribes since generations. It is a private event, strictly not political: several hundred participants -and invited spectators- converge in Laikipia Nature Conservancy on the last weekend of September in their full tribal finery to celebrate hope, reconciliation, and World Peace Day .
Paul Tergat, one of Kenya’s finest athletes and former world record holder in the 10,000 meters and marathon said “this is a unique event that brings warring communities together through sport in the most unique setting. It is indeed the Kenya that we want. It is also a great way to tap talent amongst these communities and at the same time, encourage them to conserve nature and protect the wildlife in an unique part of Kenya”.
By combining Peace and Sport across such a tremendous array of tribes and communities who have been involved in conflict, and by offering their youth the only opportunity to interact, The Laikipia Highlands Games-is crucial to the development of a peace process in the area.
The Laikipia Highland Games was awarded the 2009 ‘Sport and Peace Best Event’ from the Prince of Monaco Foundation for Sport and Peace.
Kuki Gallmann
Founder
Please help us fund the rebuilding and maintaining of vital conservation infrastructure on Kuki’s Laikipia Nature Conservancy and equip the outstanding team of rangers with everything they need to continue to protect and monitor the unique Biodiversity of Ol Ari Nyiro, assist our neighbouring communities and support our re-forestation project to combat global warming by planting more indigenous trees.
With your help we can secure Kuki’s vision and legacy in perpetuity.
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