November 30, marked the 56th anniversary of one of Kenya's pioneers of long distance races Kipchoge Keino.
Keino marked the day with a generous donation to the World Athletics Heritage Collection and the Museum of World Athletics (MOWA).
He donated the silver trophy he collected for one of the sizzling performances with which he set European tracks alight in the northern hemisphere summer of 1965.
Keino, 81,lives on the 500-acre farm he bought after his retirement from track competition in 1974. At Kazi Mingi Farm, in the hills near Eldoret, he has built perhaps his greatest achievement.
Keino and his wife Phylis have over the past 40 years raised hundreds of orphans and abandoned children at the Kip Keino Children’s Home.
The farm complex also houses the Kip Keino School and the Kip Keino High Performance Training Centre.
Laura and Chamatia are typical of the adopted Keinos. They were found by police officers on the streets of Eldoret, unable to move because of pneumonia. When no one claimed them from the city hospital, Keino’s old police colleagues called Kip and Phyllis.
“They are all my children,my own mother died when I was three. I don’t want anyone to grow up with that problem.”
“I came into this world with nothing and I will leave with nothing. While I am here, I should be mindful of those people who need help.”
“We can’t help everyone, but we do what is within our ability. The money that we make from farm produce and from the training centre helps to subsidise the children’s home and the school,” Keino highlighted.