 |
| New Empire |
We are honored and excited to share this video with you, documenting the story of Eloise and Julius our founders.
Eloise began her athletics career at a young age, starting out in the under 6’s at her local little athletics club. After realizing at the age of 15 that she wanted to make running her career, she committed to training and qualified for the Olympics at the age of 16. Unfortunately soon after qualifying, Eloise suffered a stress fracture which continued to plague her career for the following decade. She has continued to follow her dreams despite facing much adversity, and is now on track to qualify for the London 2012 games.
Julius Achon has an inspiring story of hope which continues to unfold.One morning on a routine training run in Uganda, Julius Achon literally stumbled upon 11 orphaned children living at a bus shelter. These children, who had been effected by Africa’s longest running war, were without food, clothing, housing or education, with some of the children unable to remember even their own names. From that day on, Julius took the children on as his own family.
Julius himself was no stranger to poverty. Having grown up the remote village of Awake in Northern Uganda, and himself being abducted by the Lords Resistance Army and forced into being a child soldier, he understands like no other the effects of poverty and war. At the age of 12, He was captured by rebels, from the Lords Resistance Army and forced to become a child soldier. He was held captive for 3 months until an opportunity to escape arose when a government plane flew over the LRA camp and started attacking the rebels. Julius escaped but sadly witnessed the murder of 9 of his friends as they ran for their lives.
Julius went on to have an incredibly successful running career, representing Uganda in 2 Olympic games, including being flag bearer for Uganda at the Sydney 2000 games.
Thanks to our friends New Empire, their story has been told through the song “One Heart One Million Voices”. This song has been picked by channel 9 to feature as the promotion song for the 2012 London Olympics!
What better story to tell than that of Eloise and Julius, two people living on opposite sides of the planet, who met through their sport and a desire to compete at the Olympics. Their story doesn’t end there, but was the inspiration for the Love Mercy Foundation.
They are united in one heart, telling the story of one million voices in Northern Uganda, who’s lives are in need of restoration and renewal after decades of brutal warfare.
Watch the video here, and show your support for Eloise in her Olympic campaign for London 2012 on our Facebook page!!
