Talking the talk, walking the walk for world peace

How long does it take to walk and run the more than 800 miles from Chicago to New York City?

Lake Forest man Alhaji Yakubu hopes to do it in 30 days. The 42-year-old native of Ghana plans to leave Saturday on a mission to reach the hallowed ground where the World Trade Center collapsed Sept. 11. He plans to be there for the one-year anniversary of the attack, spreading a message of peace.

Yakubu says he is not doing it just for Americans.

"Sept. 11 affected the whole world," Yakubu, a Muslim, said. Not all who died at the World Trade Center that day were U.S. citizens, he said.

"I'm doing it for the whole world, which should come together and be one and stop the violence," he said.

Yakubu considers himself a world citizen. He speaks nine languages, including French, Arabic, English, Nigerian and Ghanaian, and several other African dialects. He is also learning Spanish.

He works as a caretaker in the environment services ward of Lake Forest Hospital. Officials there support his undertaking and have given him time off to complete the task.

"We applaud his passion to support world peace," hospital President Bill Ries said. "He's taken an extended personal leave from his work at the hospital to complete his walk. Our thoughts and prayers go with him."

Though the trek is an ambitious enterprise, Yakubu is no stranger to long-distance walking and running. He has been doing it for about 20 years in his home country.

"Back home, I've been doing it to raise funds for AIDS, breast cancer, and famine (relief)," Yakubu said.

He decided soon after Sept. 11 that a worthy cause is to bring people together.

"I just want everybody to know that whether you are a Christian, Muslim or a Hindu, we all come from one God," he said. "If you have any problem, you have to sit down and talk amongst yourselves and get an understanding of each other. And the world will be at peace if you do that."

He has done similar peace walks during times of violence in Ghana.

His accomplishments include walking from his hometown, Tamale, to the nation's capital, Accra, 400 miles away. He has walked nearly 500 miles from Accra to Lagos, Nigeria. The longest journeys he has completed are from Accra to Algeria, which is 3,000 miles, and from Accra to Mecca - the Muslim holy place of pilgrimage - in Saudi Arabia, 5,000 miles away.

Traveling great distances on foot is an age-old ancestral tradition Yakubu hopes to keep alive.

But this might be his last walk.

"Because I'm getting old now," Yakubu said. "Maybe if I get somebody here, I can train him so he can take over."

Athletic, weighing 140 pounds and standing 5 feet 6 inches tall, Yakubu has been training rigorously, running 15 miles every day for the past two months. In the year and six months he has been in America, he never stopped training.

"If I don't run for one week, I feel sick in my body," he said. "I'll be feeling lazy."

Training for the walk involves mastering several yoga-like postures. For some endurance exercises, Yakubu solicits the help of his roommate and co-worker Reggie Thomas.

"He's a self-motivator," said Thomas, who drives beside Yakubu during runs. The 265-pound man often stands on Yakubu's stomach to help strengthen his abdominal muscles.

"He's got a cast-iron stomach," Thomas said. "He's an inspiration for me."

Yakubu would like to walk and run about 50 miles a day on his trek to New York. But the summer heat might slow him down to 30 miles a day, he said.

From Chicago he will follow the lakefront of Lake Michigan to Indiana and make his way through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and then New York.

But Yakubu says he will avoid running on crowded state highways and instead take alternative routes that are less dangerous.

"It will take one whole month," Yakubu said.

So far, he has managed to get sponsorships from several local companies. But more are needed to help fund the entire trip and provide necessities like clothing, shoes, food and water. Yakubu also needs to find a driver to drive alongside him as he walks.

If Yakubu can't find a sponsor to donate him a van for the trip, he will use his own Mercedes truck to carry all his supplies and camp out in a tent on the way.

To be truly representative of the whole world, he's looking for people to donate flags from different countries that he can decorate his truck with.

Yakubu hopes to inspire other walkers and runners to join him on this journey.

"But if I don't, I will do it by myself," he said.

Peace: Walker still collecting sponsors