Special Events - AmCham/BCCT/ECCT Joint Special Luncheon

Meet one of the world’s fastest runners, blind Kenyan athlete Henry Wanyoike and his running guide Joseph Kibunja Gachui, and hear their story.

About the Speaker(s)

Already a promising runner in his teenage years, Henry Wanyoike suffered a mild stroke and lost his sight and his dream of being an athlete in April 1995. It was not until a few years later when a doctor discovered that Henry had once been a runner, did the idea of running again come into Henry's mind. Henry runs with track guide and childhood friend Joseph Kibunja Gachui. Henry not only won a place in the Kenyan Paralympics team, he brought home the first gold medal in Africa for the 5,000 meter event at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000.

Now at age 33 Henry Wanyoike is the record holder of the 5,000 and 10,000 meters for a blind runner and gained gold medals for both distances at the Athens Games.

Henry Wanyoike is involved in numerous charity projects in Kenya and throughout the world including his own organization, the Henry Wanyoike Foundation. He has bought knitting machines through prize money and charitable donations, and he now employs other blind Kenyans and teaches them how to knit pullovers. Henry is Standard Chartered Bank’s Goodwill Ambassador for the "Seeing is Believing" Global Campaign.

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