Cross country runner Elphas Kimutai is planning a community health center in his hometown of Chuchuniat, Kenya.

By Rose Sumer

When distance runner and nursing student Elphas Kimutai attains “nitaishinda”—Swahili for a swift running pace—he knows he’s going to win. As captain of NYIT’s cross country team and ECC Preseason Male Runner of the Year, he seldom fails to pace himself on the valleys and hills of a cross country course. Hitting his stride off-trail is another story.

“I believe that being a responsible leader is important,” says Kimutai, who came to NYIT on an athletic scholarship from Chuchuniat village in Kenya. He admits that adjusting to New York posed challenges, causing him to decline the captain title first offered in his sophomore year.

Kimutai, the only person in his village to attend a U.S. university, struggled during his first months at NYIT. His professors talked too fast, the roads were too congested with traffic for running, and the only food he could stomach was milk, rice, and bread.

He eventually sought help with making the transition.

“I went to the NYIT Learning Center for tutoring,” Kimutai says. “I was really helped by my cross country team. My coach helped me to understand how people communicate here and move from one place to another.”

He went to the Office of International Students every day to talk about his diet. “Running and not eating well were hard,” he says.

His cross country training benefited from these efforts. Kimutai finished first in the 2010 ECC Championship by outpacing the rest of the field by more than 10 seconds. He is consistently the top Bear finisher in the men’s races.

This tenacity to find his pace on campus is bigger than Kimutai’s cross country aspirations. He plans to return to Kenya after graduation to open a community health center in Chuchuniat, where a family tragedy shaped this plan.

In 2007, his younger brother Josiah died at 14 of a misdiagnosed heart condition. It was Kimutai’s 17th birthday and he was returning from a ritual 6 a.m. run to find a crowd of people outside his family home.

It was harvest season and roads were muddy from the rain. His family could not reach the nearest hospital 12 kilometers away in time to save his brother.

“His death made me change my mind about everything,” he says.

Kimutai has already started planning the community health center in memory of his sibling. Kenya’s Ministry of Health approved land and construction materials for the building site in early 2011. Fundraising comes next.

“I have no option but to take my medical knowledge back to Kenya,” he says. “Through the hospital, I will be able to fulfill my dream in life to help others.”

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