The Movement On Own Feet - Centipede

Even though the weather on May 13, 2010 was not wishing to any celebration, there was the sun shining over Prague’s Juliska. More than 2000 Centipede children and teachers met in order to celebrate the 20 anniversary of founding the Centipede and the 10 anniversary of co-operation with the Army of the Czech Republic. It would be a real bad luck if they would have to hide under umbrella.
At 1 p.m. sharp, with the festive fanfare, the troop of the soldiers entered the gates of the stadium, carrying the flag of the Czech Republic. Representatives of both honourees came up to the stage – Mrs. Bìla, representing the Centipede and – representing the Czech Army – the Chief of Staff of the Czech Army General Vlastimil Picek, Centipede General Josef Šíba and deputy Minister of Defence Mr. František Padìlek. In their short speeches, they welcomed everybody who was present – Centipede children, teachers and valuable guests: President of the Human Rights Foundation Mr. Thor Halvorssen, members of the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem Mr. Ondøej Vanke and Mr. Petr Øehoø, mayor of the Prague 6 municipality Mr. Tomáš Chalupa, longstanding colleagues of the Centipede Gen. Josef Prokš, Gen. Michal Pažúr, Col. Petr Milèický a Mjr. Karel Kout, representatives of the Norwegian Centipede school from Roren, Vice-President of the Centipede Ms Astrid Hagen Huerta, „Centipede team“ of the 4 contingent of the Czech Army in Afghanistan lead by Cpt. Lada Kováøová, Centipede colleague of the 5 contingent in Afghanistan Lt. Lukáš Kubièek and many others. Among the congratulants was also former president of the Czech Republic and the first Centipede patron Mr. Václav Havel who sent an audio recording of his greetings.
Everybody reminded the most important common projects and highly appreciated the role of the Centipede in helping the children in war-affected areas of the world. The representatives of the Army pointed out how much they appreciated the co-operation with the movement and assured that Centipede can count on their assistance in future. The members of the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem awarded Mrs. Bìla with Golden Schwarzenberg Medal. At the same time, they handed over the cheque for 50 000,- CZK that would be used for the reconstruction of a school in Afghan Logar district. After that, Mrs. Bìla handed over the cheque, together with another cheque from Centipede in the amount of 20 000,- USD to Lt. Lukáš Kubièek. This money will also be used for the assistance to the children in Logar province. At the same time, thousands of packets of crayons that were brought to Juliska by the children, will fly to Afghanistan. President of the Human Rights Foundation Mr. Thor Halvorssen greeted all the Centipede children and pointed out what the Centipede’s help meant to the Afghan children and how much he valued the work of all the „Centipedes“.
An article about Centipede and the work of its children has been published in foreign press. You can download it here.

After this, the other part of the program started. At first, the troop of honour performed the ordinal exercise with the weapons. It was simply unbelievable and they had a huge applause from the present visitors. After that, the army whippers came to the floor with their dogs. The showed the restraint of an offender and the exercise of obedience of the dogs. At the end of their performance we could hear the helicopter out of which eight paratroopers jumped out.
A competition in athletic biathlon followed – long jump a relay 4 x 60 metres. The results of all 25 schools were very equal. The table of the results can be seen below. Also the Centipede children presented their art: Gymnasts of the elementary school in Humpolec, dancers from Zubøí with their street dance, theatre ensemble from the elementary school in Spálené Poøíèí with the Devil’s fairy tale, gymnasts from the elementary school Petøiny with their sports aerobic exercise and the band of the 15 elementary school in Plzeò The Undercovers and Treska. During the competitions and show, the children could get a bodypaint in the bodypaint centre of the Grammar school of Jiøí Orten from Kutná Hora.

The show of the guests followed. The violinist Michael Hejè played some of the pieces of his repertoire, the opera singer Adam Plachetkna (former Centipede pupil) sang the aria of the Marriage of Figaro by W.A.Mozart. Everybody was surprised by the art of Petr Blecha, leading make-up artist of Lancome and another former Centipede pupil.
In the evening the big concert started. At first, Tereza Vágnerová sang, followed by Pepa Vágner and Ben Christovao in the end. There was a huge applause after every song and the children attacked the singer with the request for autographs. Nobody really minded that it got colder in the evening.
Time to say good bye came. The children choir from Loštice, Pepa Vágner, Mrs. Bìla, Gen. Šíba, Astrid Hagen Huerta, Col. Petr Milèický, Cpt. Lada Kováøová a Lt. Lukáš Kubièek came to the stage and the Centipede anthem Never Be Alone was played. The evening finished with beautiful fireworks.

Allow us to thank to the organisers of this extraordinary meeting – Mrs. Alena Kotková, Mr. Jiøí Šmice and the members of the Army sports centre Dukla – who spent countless days and sleepless nights while preparing the event.