On July 24, 2023, Deo Kato set off from Cape Town, South Africa, to run 12,000 kilometers to his hometown in London, England, lastly ending on Sunday, December 22, 2024, with a crowd of over 300 different runners.
His epic journey tells the story of human migration, from Africa to the relaxation of the world. It is Kato’s perception that everybody has a proper to discover and enhance the world. His journey began from the Long March to Freedom Exhibition, which honors those that fought for freedom and democracy in South Africa for 350 years.
His journey spanned two continents, operating from Cape Town to Egypt, flying to Greece and operating to France, earlier than taking a ferry from Calais to the remaining part of his run to London.
In the finish, Kato ran 7,530 miles (12,119k), which is the equal of round 288 marathons, and gained 91,620 meters (300,590 toes) of elevation, the equal of scaling Everest 10 occasions. We spoke to him about his journey, the way it impacted him, and the way he hopes it’s going to encourage others to take motion.
Deo Kato exterior the Long March to Freedom monument, Cape Town, South Africa, the place he started his run to London. Photo: @danielhamshere
Background and Inspirations: Running for Justice
Kato is a Ugandan born runner, run coach, activist, and campaigner. In 2020, following the illegal killing of George Floyd by police in the United States — and impressed by the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 and 1956, a large-scale protest towards racial segregation in Montgomery, Alabama utilizing the public bus transport system — Kato launched his “381 Days: Running for Justice” marketing campaign, which noticed him run a minimal of 10k per day for 381 days to elevate consciousness of the points of police brutality and racial discrimination.
In 2021, he ran the London Marathon and was awarded the Spirit of the London Marathon Award. Along with this, as half of the Black Trail Runners group, he together with others accomplished the Charlie Ramsay Round in Scotland. This is a 58-mile (93k) spherical comprising 24 summits with a complete of 8,686 meters (28,497 toes) of climb.
In 2023, Kato took on his largest problem but — operating from Cape Town to London. Kato mentioned that by operating from Cape Town to London, he wished to “spotlight the historical past of human migration.” He elaborated, “In my very own expertise of dwelling in the U.Ok. as a Black one that had migrated from Africa, I’ve skilled racial discrimination. For instance, one remark I typically get is ‘return to the place you come from.’ So, contemplating that humanity originates from Africa, I wished to spotlight this as a kind of protest and convey consciousness to the migration.”
His Journey and Challenges Faced: “More Human Kindness Than We Know”
Over the course of his journey by means of Africa, Kato was uncovered to meals poisoning, arrested in Juba, South Sudan, and spent 11 days in jail. He additionally obtained acts of human kindness from these in the most distant elements of the continent, who had been keen to present him with cooked meals and shelter.
Deo Kato operating by means of Kenya on week 30 of his journey. Photo courtesy of Deo Kato.
He shared, “One of the foremost takeaways I gained from this journey is that there’s extra human kindness than we all know, and that persons are keen to assist, particularly in the event that they perceive your background and aim.” Tellingly, he additionally famous, “In phrases of border crossings, I’ve learnt that the African borders are much more restricted for Africans than they’re for Europeans and Americans.”
Despite the varied challenges Kato confronted operating by means of Africa, he didn’t discover Europe to be any extra welcoming, and shared: “In Europe, I confronted a brand new problem of being racially profiled as an unlawful immigrant, so the police had been continuously stopping me and asking me to present my passport and show that I had entered the nation legally. At the European borders, my passport [a British passport] was scrutinized greater than different folks’s.”
It was this remedy reasonably than the bodily calls for of the run that pushed Kato shut to the level of quitting. He mentioned: “I felt like quitting once I was in Europe … Things bought to be an excessive amount of to cope with. Even although I knew I used to be nearer to the end, I stored hoping every new day could be higher than the earlier day. This was one of the issues that stored me going throughout the darkest moments.”
Deo Kato passing by means of Slovenia on his run from Cape Town to London. Photo: Deo Kato
Inspiring New Perspectives on Migrants
Kato hopes that his run from Cape Town to London, and the observations he made alongside the method, might help to change how folks view human migration, by offering “an perception into the magnitude of the challenges migrants face, particularly folks from the world south who’re compelled to go away their nation and have to search security in another country whereas crossing land borders.”
This was only one of Deo Kato’s wonderful feats of endurance and inspiration, and we hope it received’t be his final. Whilst it may be time for him to get well from such an epic journey, Kato can be planning to encourage the subsequent era, by delivering talks about migration in faculties. He mentioned, “People inside the nations the place migrants search security should perceive that refugees and asylum seekers are additionally folks, making an attempt to navigate life in the finest method doable.”
Call for Comments
Were you following Deo Kato’s journey from Cape Town to London?