Man running 9,000 miles from South Africa to London in fight against racism

06 March 2024 , 16:42

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Deo Kato, 36, is running from Cape Town to London to fight racial discrimination (Image: Deo Kato/SWNS)

A man is running 9,000 miles from Cape Town to London undertaking the challenge to fight racial discrimination.

Deo Kato, 36, has so far crossed through seven countries - South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya - and has completed 4,157 miles (6,690.2km). Deo started his run in July last year and believes he will arrive in London at the end of September 2024.

Deo's latest challenge is an extension to the 381 days running for justice campaign that he formed in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. The movement encouraged people to run 10km a day for 381 days as a form of activism. This was inspired by the 381-day strike of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 which African Americans participated in.

Views of the scenary during Deo's Zambia leg of the journey (Deo Kato/SWNS)

Deo Kato is on day 173 of his monumental run from Cape Town to London (Deo Kato/SWNS)

But to take the movement to the next level, Deo, who is originally from Kampala, Uganda, decided to run all the way from Cape Town to London. Deo, who works as a personal trainer, said: "I wanted to continue the movement through a different lens - by taking it to Africa. The experience I've had moving from one place to another, I've experienced racial discrimination myself.

"All humans come from Africa and I want to educate people of that fact through running." Deo is currently on the northern border of Kenya and will cross over to Ethiopia in the next few days. Planning the route was no easy task as he had to avoid certain countries due to war or political instability.

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Deo said: "We are kind of creating a roadmap as we go along. The human migration story goes off the beaten track away from known forms of travel through Africa. We did lots of research to figure out the best safe routes and countries. It turned out the conflict in the Congo was too much so we changed route to go into Kenya and stay on the eastern side of Africa."

When Deo arrived in Zambia (Deo Kato/SWNS)

The political instability of certain countries wasn't the only dangers Deo has had to overcome. Angry farmers, vehicles letting him down and even lions have threatened to turn his journey upside down. Deo said: "Most companies don't allow cars to travel across borders into new countries so organising new vehicles at each border is quite difficult.

"We also had a very angry farmer call the police on us. Then of course there is the wildlife. We've encountered elephants on the roads, springbok, antelopes and lots of giraffes. In Tanzania, we had to run in the daytime with an escort from park rangers in case lions came."

Deo, with the help of his girlfriend Alice, also organises visits to local schools to spread his message. He said: "Through social media and in person, I try to reach as many young people as possible. My girlfriend Alice arranges lots of the material and contacts in the background. Educating the next generation is so important but also teaching them that there will always be naysayers telling you you can't do something.

"But if you have your mind set you can achieve it if you want." With his body coping well with the task so far, Deo says it is the mental side of things that are harder to keep on top of.

He said: "Running is honestly the easy part. The mental and emotional side are the hardest. I am missing family and my partner. But at this moment I am just trying to process everything that's going on. Naturally, there is a bit of anxiety with safety and figuring out what we need to do and how to get around these challenges."

Once Deo crosses into Ethiopia, his next stop will be Sudan before crossing through to Egypt and then onto Greece - all of which come with their own challenges. Deo said: "With Sudan, we are looking into the route we have planned out and how safe it is. Ethiopia and Sudan are huge and we can't go around them so we have to find a way through them to not put the whole project in jeopardy."

Deo has already envisioned himself finishing the run and said he's already imagining the emotions he will be feeling when it is all over.

Deo said: "In my mind, I've already finished. I just need to get my body there. It will be very emotional. It has taken up close to five years of my life in total from the start of the campaign. I want to fight towards ending racism and this journey is working towards that."

Samuel Wightwick