Refugees on the RunNovember 9, 2011
By Theresa Wallace
Yves Sikubwabo has no doubt that running has changed his life. “Everything I have now, I owe to running,” he says, “and to the people I’ve met through running.” The 18-year-old Ottawa running phenom, a Rwandan refugee, candidly describes his debt to the sport that brought him to Canada.Kirk Dillabaugh, Sikubwabo’s high school coach, believes there’s even more to it. “Yves’s incredible talent opened doors,” he says, “but his good character and approach to life have allowed him to walk through them. Furthermore, while many students struggle with poverty and homelessness, Yves’s story has become very public, and he has accepted this.”