“What I want people to remember is that this is not a
fun run for us, this is extremely emotional for us. We
have a car full of names of murdered people, so this is
no joyride or holiday. And in just two days we met with
two families whose parents were murdered on their
farms… so this is about so much more than just an
athlete running to Cape Town.”
Nuno, too, is feeling the emotion of the trip catching
up with him, and says it has made him long for home.
“I’m really missing home at the moment, because
it was my youngest daughter Alexandra’s birthday
yesterday, and I will be missing my eldest daughter
Isabella’s birthday in early August, too. Of course, I
would much rather be at home with my girls, but I
am doing this for them just as much as other people
throughout South Africa. Our voices need to be heard,
and our leaders need to listen and step up.”
The mental and physical strain shows as
Nuno tackles another day on the road
up next to me while I was walking and asked me
what I was doing out there walking in the middle of
nowhere. After I told him our story, he said his house
was just up the road, and we should feel free to stop
by if we needed anything. Less than an hour later,
his son pulled up alongside us and said exactly the
same thing. At first I was unbelievably touched, and
so grateful, but as the son drove off, I got angry…
I thought, why must good people like this suffer so
much due to crime?” recounts Nuno.
“Along the way, we also heard about a family that
had just been murdered in that area we were running
through. So physically and emotionally, this run is
putting huge strain on us. We are dealing with people
who have been through the terrible ordeal of losing
loved ones and friends, listening to them, giving them
time to tell their stories. Some nights we sit and cry as
we listen to them, or read the messages they send us,
including the kids that are making posters for us.”
Morne adds, “Everywhere we go, people want to
speak to us, from every culture, and most tell us
it is extremely moving to listen to our story. Also,
we have two very different personalities – one
bubbly idiot and one more serious guy, and I think
people love it. I don’t even understand it… Nuno
cooked a ‘bunnychow’ one night, which we filmed,
and we had over 400 people watching live, and
later got over 40,000 views! I think people just see
two normal dudes overcoming huge odds to do
something for their country. We’re so humbled by
that. In fact, that has also reduced us both to tears
many times.”
Running on Emotion
While Nuno is the main runner in this challenge,
Morne is also stepping out of the car now and again
to do a bit of running, even though he openly admits
he is not nearly as fit as he would like to be. “I ran a
lot of half marathons back in the day, and I still feel
the same passion for running, but I’m not very active
right now. Still, I’m committed to doing 197km as part
of this run to Cape Town, in honour of the 197 names
of kids on the car. I started by running 9km for little
Tazne – one kay for each year she lived – and today I
shared five more names of kids on social media, then
ran 5km for them,” he says.
Nuno is doing the run for a safer future for
his daughters and all women and children
in SA
You can follow Nuno and Morne’s
progress and support their campaign
on the #ShutSADown page on
Facebook.
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