- he number of participants more than doubled from last year's run, from 2,500 to over 5,000
Image: courtesy
The second edition of the ABSA KH3-7 Hills Run was successfully held on Sunday 17th March with various participants flagged off by Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa.
The theme this year was promoting Girl Child Education. The number of participants more than doubled from last year's run, from 2,500 to over 5,000.
"53% of girls years complete primary seven education level but only 22.5% continue to other levels. The government has tried its level best with several interventions to support women in General including creating awareness in communities that the girl child matters but barriers are still many. " The deputy speaker said in his remarks.
On his part, the Managing director of Absa Bank, Mumba Kalifungwa said that when you look at the statistics, women are the majority but when it comes to opportunities from an education point of view, there are still some gaps that need to be filled.
‘’As a bank, we feel that supporting a girl child is the right thing to do and is something that we encourage other organizations to do as we try to bridge the gap’’. He noted
‘’The run is aimed at promoting girls’ education due to many challenges that girls face especially as they finish primary and go to secondary education. The school dropouts are very many at that level, so we want to help keep girl children in school by working with other partners to address all barriers that are failing their academics’’. Said Hellen Basuta Nangozi, marketing and customer experience director of Absa Bank.
The annual event an initiative of Absa Bank Uganda and the Kampala Hash House Harriers saw thousands of participants covering 5Km and 21km across the seven iconic hills in Kampala
The Seven icon hills were Kibuli, Rubaga, Makerere, Namirembe, Kololo, Nakasero and Old Kampala.