Kadogo and Juma are friends who love running.

They run together every day.

One day they were reading maps at school.

Juma said, "Let's run across our continent. Let's race, together with Africans from many countries!"

"Let's go, we can do it! African unity!" cheered Kadogo.

They decided to carry a unity torch on their journey.

They lit the torch and began to run.

The race started at the southern tip of our continent, in Cape Town, South Africa.

From South Africa they headed along the west coast.

They ran through Namibia, Angola, DRC, Congo and Cameroon. Runners quickly joined them from these countries.

The growing group of people rested in Nigeria, in Abuja.

More runners from West Africa joined the friends as they passed through Nigeria.

They continued together, following the River Niger.

A sandstorm in Mali made it difficult to run.

Juma was the strongest of all of them. He led the way safely, holding the unity torch high.

At Guinea's coast in Conakry the dusty runners washed in the sea.

Then they decided to race to Morocco through Senegal and Mauritania.

All the way, more people joined them.

At Casablanca, the runners enjoyed playing on the beaches. They made more friends.

Next, they set off across North Africa.

They ran through Algeria and Libya, and stopped in Egypt to visit the pyramids.

Then they turned and headed east, following the River Nile to East Africa.

They ran through deserts and national parks.

More young people joined them in Kampala, Uganda.

The group ran into Kenya, and headed for its coast and the city of Mombasa.

When they reached the sea, they sat on the beach and ate coconut rice with fish.

Juma said, "Let's take the unity torch to Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania."

But by this time, Juma was very tired. Just as they left Kenya, he fell down.

The runners stopped the race. Everyone came to help Juma.

Juma passed on the torch to Kadogo.

He said, "You can carry the torch to Mount Kilimanjaro. Let's light a flame for African unity."

After lighting a unity flame high on Kilimanjaro, the group of runners headed into southern Africa.

People cheered the runners saying, "You are our heroes. We are together!"

They stopped to swim in Lake Malawi, and rest before going to the next country.

Kadogo said to Juma, "We've run from the farthest point in southern Africa to the farthest point in North Africa. Now we are in the south again. Our journey is ending."

The unity runners finally carried the torch to Great Zimbabwe, the ancient city of that country.

Crowds gathered at this important place, cheering to welcome the tired runners.

"We did it!" said Kadogo. "What a race!" smiled Juma.