THE LONE WARRIOR
Two young men in shorts and bright blue t-shirts rush down a steep slope, kicking up black dust as they turn a sharp corner and continue to the bottom of the hill. One by one, a group of men in their late teens and early twenties follows suit, panting and gasping for air. A few minutes later, the lead runners start running back up, their faces contorted in agony as they reach for the top.
Twenty-year-old Miguel Masaisai is only seconds after a gangly sprinter with a near-perfect stride. “Come on, all the way,” shouts a thin, elderly man as the two athletes reach the plateau halfway up the hill. The two guys grin as they sprint past the coach and come to a halt in the warm, volcanic sand.
“He’s our star,” beams the coach, Marius Assumani, as the shy Masaisai joins the group for burpees, push-ups and short sprints across the sandy plateau. It’s early evening in Goma,
