Morning Run - Run for the Sun - Run for Emma Academy

Today I took a 6 mile training run on New Smyrna Beach at 6am. It was still dark when I began and about 7:40 am the sun came up. Like all races I began in the dark, I started in peace and ran for GUA Africa. I imagine running across the African plane. I imagine running along the coast of Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa and the Indian Ocean. I imagine running with Kilimanjaro in the background and I imagine that I might one day be the person I always wanted to be.

Emma McCune was a British Aid Worker who rescued Emmanuel Jal from a refugee camp and believed in him when there was no reason to.  She encouraged him and saved him.  Jal’s mother died when he was 6 years old.  Emma McCune died when he was 15 years old.  My mother never stopped believing in me and she rescued me as well.
Here are the lyrics to Emmanuel Jal’s song, Emma, and the inspiration for Emma Academy:
EMMA
This one goes out to Emma McCune.
Angel to the rescue one afternoon.
I’m here because she rescued me.
I’m proud to carry your legacy.
Chorus What would I be if Emma never rescued me?
  What would I be, another starving refugee?
  What would I be if Emma never rescued me?
You would have seen my face on the telly. Pot hungry belly.
Flies in my eyes. Head too big for my size.
Just another little starving child running around Africa born to be wise.
Praise God! Praise the almighty for sending an angel to rescue me.
I got a reason for being on this earth.
Cause I know more than many what a life is worth.
Now that I get a chance to stand my ground, I’m going to run over mountains leaps and bounds.
I ain’t an angel, I hope to be one soon. And if I am, I want to be like Emma McCune.
              Chorus What would I be if Emma never rescued me?
  What would I be, another starving refugee?
  What would I be if Emma never rescued me?
I would have probably starved from starvation…or some other wretched disease.
I would have grown up with no education…just a starving refugee.
I stand here because someone cared.
I stand here because someone dared.
I know there’s another person out there willing to save the life of a child.
 Chorus What would I be if Emma never rescued me?
  What would I be, another starving refugee?
  What would I be if Emma never rescued me?
I remember the time when I was small,
I couldn’t read or write at all.
Now I’m all grown up. Got my education.
The sky is the limit and I can’t be stopped.
I know I will pray for this day to come.
And I’ll pray that the world will find wisdom.
To give the poor and needy some assistance.
Instead of putting up resistance.
Sitting and waiting for the politics of business.
It ain’t gonna happen…
They’re all sitting on their asses;
Popping champagne and scorching up the masses.
Coming from a refugee boy soldier, but I still got my dignity.
I gotta say it again, “If Emma never rescued me,
I’d be a corpse on the African plain (echo).
 Chorus What would I be if Emma never rescued me?
  What would I be, another starving refugee?
  What would I be if Emma never rescued me?