Aspire supports Deo Kato on his final leg from Cape Town to London on 22nd December
Deo Kato is a Ugandan-born campaigner, activist and trail runner who has spent the past 16 months running from Cape Town to London to tell the historic story of Human Migration from Africa to the Rest of the World.
December 2024: Nearly a year and a half since he started his epic challenge, Deo Kato has already run more than the length of Africa – the equivalent of more than 200 marathons. The final section of Deo’s route has taken him through Europe crossing the Austrian Alps from Athens to Calais before returning to his hometown of London for a celebratory homecoming on the 22nd December in Hammersmith. This penultimate leg of his run from Cape Town has been solo without a crew or support vehicle and the community have come together to offer food and shelter to Deo. He is scheduled to cross the channel on 19th December, followed by his final run into central London on 20th, 21st and 22nd December. Over 250 people have already signed up to join him on his final run to mark this incredible moment in history with many more expected to join in the coming week.
Deo started his journey from Cape Town on 24th July 2023 at the Long March to Freedom exhibition paying homage to those who fought for South Africa’s freedom from the early 1700s to Freedom Day in April 1994. His journey is inspired by the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 when African Americans in Alabama staged a civil rights protest that took them 381 days to end segregation on the buses – A pivotal turning point in the history of the civil rights movement.
As if the physical challenge was not great enough Deo has overcome some unimaginable obstacles. On the 2nd of June, he was arrested on the outskirts of Juba in South Sudan with the Ugandan driver of his crew car and held at the Riverside jail before being transferred to theheadquarters of the country’s National Security Service in Juba. In Tanzania, where he was already battling torrential rain and muddy roads, the food he bought off the street made him sick and unable to run. However, there have also been memorable acts of kindness. Once when running through the desert in northern South Africa and with nowhere to stay, a local farmer took in Deo and his driver, cooking a meal for them and providing a safe place to sleep.
On completion of his route, Deo will have travelled across 20 countries and 2 continents, covered 12,119 kilometres (7,530 miles) with 91,620m of elevation, run through deserts and grasslands and covered over 10 times the height of Everest. He will be the first person in history to run from Cape Town to London and in doing so, he wants to show the next generation that nothing is impossible and to highlight where humanity first walked on earth.
Deo has said:
“I hope that this challenge will help tell the true story of Human Migration and to show that representation matters. In highlighting the origins of migration I want to challenge the racist notion that people should ‘go back to where they come from’. The best thing we can do is leave the world, a little better because of our existence, creating our legacy and our lasting footprint”
To support Deo’s journey and raise awareness of his mission, Aspire is supporting with an earned media strategy and the Aspire Active Communities Fund is sponsoring a photographer to document his arrival in the UK and his final miles into London.
Photo credit: Christian Martischius
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