Post by elonfirefighter on Nov 17, 2007 14:32:05 GMT -5
QUEENS CROSS-COUNTRY STAR AT NATIONALS
Runner survived 2 years in African prison camp
BRETT HONEYCUTT
bhoneycutt@charlotteobserver.com
Staff Photographer11/09/07: Queens University cross country runner Daniel Kanyaruhuru, 23, grew up in the Congo where he witnessed genocide and the death of many of his relatives. He was imprisoned when he was 12, severely beaten and separated from his parents before escaping to a refugee camp and moving to the United States at 14 years old. (John D. Simmons - jsimmons@charlotteobserver.com)Daily beatings. Genocide. Murdered family members. Prison camp. Refugee camp. Sleepless nights.
It is Daniel Kanyaruhuru's past, but it is something he is far from now.
As he prepares to run at the NCAA Division II cross country nationals today at Missouri Southern State in Joplin, Mo., where he will be a favorite to win Queens' first national title, the worries of winning won't compare to his anxiety during those atrocities in his native country, the Congo, on the western coast of Central Africa.
"It's not something I get too nervous about," said the 23-year-old Kanyaruhuru, who won the NCAA Southeast Regional by nearly two minutes at Wingate on Nov. 3. "First of all, I'm really thankful to God.
"I do not try to hold anything back. If I win, I'm going to be happy. If I don't win, I'm going to be satisfied if I ran good."
Kanyaruhuru was born in the Congo, where civil war tore his tribe apart when he was about 13.
While visiting his brother's family in another region of the country, they were taken captive and placed in a prison camp along with more than 550 others.
Kanyaruhuru was one of 32 who survived the two torturous years of twice-a-day beatings. His brother, brother's wife and their children did not survive.
"I was being beaten every day and seeing people killed every day," Kanyaruhuru said. "... At the beginning, they used to beat me and I would scream. ... I learned, everybody there learned ... how to not show emotion at all."
"My wish was to die, but the longer I stayed there you feel like you're never being a normal person. My father was a pastor. I'm a Christian. I prayed every night before I went to bed."
The Red Cross helped relocate the survivors to a refugee camp in neighboring Cameroon.
Kanyaruhuru was unable to walk for six months because of the beatings. After a year, sponsors helped bring him to the United States and he settled in Phoenix.
After three years of playing soccer at Paradise Valley High, his coaches encouraged him to run cross country his final year.
He attended Paradise Valley Community College, where he won national titles in the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs and 3,000-meter steeplechase.
While there, he found out his father, mother, two brothers and six sisters had survived. His parents, along with two of his sisters, moved to Arizona in 2005.
He then transferred to Virginia Intermont, an NAIA school, where he finished fourth at nationals in cross country last season. When the school discontinued its program, he transferred to Queens before this season.
Now, he hopes to win a title in his final year of running cross country.
Even if he doesn't, he already has experienced victory.
Runner survived 2 years in African prison camp
BRETT HONEYCUTT
bhoneycutt@charlotteobserver.com
Staff Photographer11/09/07: Queens University cross country runner Daniel Kanyaruhuru, 23, grew up in the Congo where he witnessed genocide and the death of many of his relatives. He was imprisoned when he was 12, severely beaten and separated from his parents before escaping to a refugee camp and moving to the United States at 14 years old. (John D. Simmons - jsimmons@charlotteobserver.com)Daily beatings. Genocide. Murdered family members. Prison camp. Refugee camp. Sleepless nights.
It is Daniel Kanyaruhuru's past, but it is something he is far from now.
As he prepares to run at the NCAA Division II cross country nationals today at Missouri Southern State in Joplin, Mo., where he will be a favorite to win Queens' first national title, the worries of winning won't compare to his anxiety during those atrocities in his native country, the Congo, on the western coast of Central Africa.
"It's not something I get too nervous about," said the 23-year-old Kanyaruhuru, who won the NCAA Southeast Regional by nearly two minutes at Wingate on Nov. 3. "First of all, I'm really thankful to God.
"I do not try to hold anything back. If I win, I'm going to be happy. If I don't win, I'm going to be satisfied if I ran good."
Kanyaruhuru was born in the Congo, where civil war tore his tribe apart when he was about 13.
While visiting his brother's family in another region of the country, they were taken captive and placed in a prison camp along with more than 550 others.
Kanyaruhuru was one of 32 who survived the two torturous years of twice-a-day beatings. His brother, brother's wife and their children did not survive.
"I was being beaten every day and seeing people killed every day," Kanyaruhuru said. "... At the beginning, they used to beat me and I would scream. ... I learned, everybody there learned ... how to not show emotion at all."
"My wish was to die, but the longer I stayed there you feel like you're never being a normal person. My father was a pastor. I'm a Christian. I prayed every night before I went to bed."
The Red Cross helped relocate the survivors to a refugee camp in neighboring Cameroon.
Kanyaruhuru was unable to walk for six months because of the beatings. After a year, sponsors helped bring him to the United States and he settled in Phoenix.
After three years of playing soccer at Paradise Valley High, his coaches encouraged him to run cross country his final year.
He attended Paradise Valley Community College, where he won national titles in the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs and 3,000-meter steeplechase.
While there, he found out his father, mother, two brothers and six sisters had survived. His parents, along with two of his sisters, moved to Arizona in 2005.
He then transferred to Virginia Intermont, an NAIA school, where he finished fourth at nationals in cross country last season. When the school discontinued its program, he transferred to Queens before this season.
Now, he hopes to win a title in his final year of running cross country.
Even if he doesn't, he already has experienced victory.