The Hash

Today Matt went for "a run" with a group of people who call themselves the Kinshasa Hash (No, this is not a smoking club).  If you as unfamiliar with “The Hash” as we were, it is the self proclaimed “most eccentric running club in the world”.  The link to the home page is: http://www.gthhh.com/.  There are nearly 2000 groups in nearly 1300 cities around the world. The general idea appears to be getting people together to go on some sort of organized excursion for exercise, site seeing and social entertainment, not necessarily in that order.

This weekend’s excursion was a 10 kilometer trail run through the bush about an hour and 15 minutes outside of Kinshasa.  40 to 50 people caravanned in 4x4s through the slums of Kinshasa and out into a rural area along the river where only the sturdiest vehicles attempt to go.  The views of the Congo River were amazing, the terrain was at times treacherous and we even got to mix it up with some villagers at the 5k pitstop and have a beer.

A view of the Congo River from the starting point of the run

Circling up before the main event. The man with the blue wig is our Grand Master.

This was also a good opportunity to see how people live outside of Kinshasa.  The other 72 million people who are living on less than one dollar per day.  Poor, poor people.  The conditions very nearly resemble Madagascar.  The huts are made of mud, sticks and leaves. Children are everywhere and are barely clothed and obviously barely fed.  However, there seems to be no shortage of beer for the adults to sit around drinking. Guess things can’t be too bad . . .

Typical village we went through. Mud huts with tin roofs

Heading into the bush

We attract a lot of attention from the locals.

A pit stop at the local pub. That's Irish Bob wearing the striped socks. He delivers the blessing.

After sweating out a few gallons (it was about 95 degrees) the ceremonies came to a close with the official naming of one of the long time members and a traditional Gaelic blessing in both English and Gaelic.

The naming ceremony of Madame Cigarette (in the dress). The beer was meant to be poured on her head, but the rules change for the Madame.

The blessing:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.