A Ugandan athlete who arrives in London this weekend after running 7,730 miles (12,440km) from South Africa to raise awareness about racism has revealed he suffered repeated abuse on reaching Europe.
Deo Kato set off from Cape Town in July 2023, running steadily north on a 516-day odyssey that has seen him jailed for weeks, laid low with serious illness and having to pass through war zones.
The epic run was conceived by the London-based Kato to highlight the history of human migration and the discrimination faced by many black Africans, a message underlined by the fact he endured daily racism from police and passersby in parts of Europe.
After climbing the equivalent height of 11 Mount Everests during the journey, Kato is due to reach central London on Sunday where he will be joined by hundreds of runners outside Downing Street before completing his route in Hammersmith, west London.
Speaking to the Guardian this week after passing through an overcast Lille, in France, the Ugandan-born runner said that despite some acute lows the overall experience had renewed his faith in humanity. Highlights included a stretch along the Kalahari Highway in Botswana where he was joined by a 15-year-old boy who, Kato said, reminded him of when he was a teenager.
“He was multilingual, speaking three languages, including English. He had spent time in England but moved back to Botswana due to family challenges. We ran together briefly, but it was a moment that warmed my heart.”
Another affirming moment, this time 1,800 miles farther north in Kenya during January, involved a group of children who spontaneously joined Kato for 5 miles as they headed to school. “They wanted to continue running with me,” he said.
On other occasions, however, he almost packed it in. In Uganda, his one-man support crew resigned, leaving him without a support vehicle or help at a time when his funding for the run was almost exhausted. To compound matters, all routes ahead involved either conflict or extreme risk.
“As I looked forward, I noticed conflicts all around me in places such as the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and northern Ethiopia,” said Kato. “Logistically, it felt that there was no possible way of continuing the journey through Africa.”
Another low point arrived more than 5,000 miles later when Kato experienced the racism other Africans have faced in Europe.
“The other time I felt like packing it in was in Croatia because I genuinely felt treated as an illegal immigrant. I didn’t feel welcomed or that I belonged in their society.
“The police stopped me at least four times a day. Sometimes, I caught locals taking photos of me and reporting me to the police,” he said.
“This experience, coupled with everything I was processing from my journey in Africa and other personal challenges, made it intensely difficult to keep moving forward.”
Kato wanted his journey to draw attention to the earliest migration of humans from Africa and challenge the racist notion that people should “go back to where they come from”. Viewed as a whole, he said the run had underlined the positive aspects of migration and its potential to “create a more culturally connected and enriched global society”.
His experiences also led him to believe that humanity will prevail over prejudice. “I think that in the future, we will create a world free from racial discrimination,” he said.
“Although it won’t happen in my lifetime, I believe that my efforts and those of others who are dedicated to this cause are laying the foundations for the next generation to build upon.”
However, he admitted it had also reinforced concerns over the “fortress Europe” approach that the EU is pursuing to prevent migrants from Africa moving north.
“The global north has long-established systems deliberately designed to restrict and criminalise individuals from the global south, particularly Africans.”
Kato’s partner, Alice Light, said the last 18 months had highlighted the best and worst of humanity. “It’s been an unimaginable rollercoaster of highs and lows, of beauty, joy and heartbreak,” she said.
She said the couple had no plans for Christmas. “It has been too unpredictable to make plans but I now know that rest is coming and am grateful for that. I feel immensely proud and blessed to have been on this journey with Deo.”
Kato set off from the Long March to Freedom monument in Cape Town, which commemorates the anti-apartheid struggle, choosing the eastern route through Africa because he wanted to pass through the Ugandan town of Nakulabye, where he grew up, to meet family members he had not seen for years.
