The Lethbridge College team of cross country runners is intertwined with family ties.
The coach, Bertil Johansson, has his own family members recruiting runners back in Kenya. One athlete has both his brother and sister racing for the college. Also, the LC team incorporates different clans from Kenya.
After having come to Canada, some of the athletes are realizing what vast opportunities lie in Canada.
Being born in overseas, these runners stick close together during the day. Having family here assists the team as they try to settle down and understand Canadian culture.
For example, one of the Kenyen Kodiaks, while sitting in class, learned that the Albertan time change to Daylight Savings Time allows farmers more daylight to do their work. He remarked, “Anything is possible in this country.”
As a Kodiak, Gladys Kochei is training to become a registered nurse. Kochei is looking to go back to Kenya to better the medical system.
“I like to be caring – like, all the time – I think to be a nurse,” said Kochei, a Lethbridge College registered nursing student. “I need to make a change in my town.”
Gladys, who has a cousin on the team, is working toward managing her own clinic in Kenya. She believes if she can work for three years in Canada, she’ll be able to earn the five million Kenyan shillings – the amount she believes it will take to start the operation.
Growing up in Kenya showed her that medical systems could be harsh. Medical supplies often run out. Mothers who are drunk on home-made brews forget to take their children for immunizations, and the ones that are sober enough to remember to take their children in may not have bathed their little ones recently.
“[The doctor] went and said, ‘Oh, what – your baby’s not clean. Can you go back and clean your baby first?’” said Kochei. In Kenya, she explained, individuals who had not taken proper care of their children were denied immunizations until they returned with clean babies.
With plenty of poor examples as to how run medical clinics, it is no wonder she is determined and doing well in both her running and schooling. She has been a powerhouse for the college, placing seventh in 19:53 in the women’s national college five-kilometre race this past fall.
With such huge family connections, it is no wonder Lethbridge College’s team is doing so well. It will be exciting to see what the team accomplishes in the near future.