By: Saja Noor

First Muslim Canadian Torch Bearer in BC Saja Noor, daughter of Haider Ali Khan, is a student of Tamanawis secondary high school. Saja ran on day 93 in Houston, B.C and became to first Muslim Canadian to carry the torch. Saja describes her extraordinary experience in this article The Olympic flame is truly a remarkable icon. Signifying peace, brotherhood and friendship, It has the power and ability to bring a smile to a face and a tear to an eye. This Olympic flame is to travel a distance of 45,000 to light up the entire nation with the help of 12000 torchbearers to bring It to home town, Vancouver. Out of those 12000 torchbearers one of them was me, Saja Noor, a student at Tamanawis Secondary. To be chosen as a torchbearer was such an honour. When I had first received a call from them I wasn't home, so they had left a message. On my way home that day little did I know that I would be a part of one of the greatest events in Canada, the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. When I first heard the message I was like,'What! Me?' thinking that it was some kind of joke until I called them back and figured out that this was real. It was the best news I had ever got in my entire life. Months later and just 4 weeks before the big moment, when everything had been confirmed and I became an official torchbearer, I received my uniform. It didn't even start to kick in until I received my uniform. I kept reading more and more about it everyday, which made it a whole lot more meaningful and exciting. So, I started my countdown to the big day, January 30 2010. I was selected to hold the torch in a small town BC called Houston. Since I live in Surrey I flew out to Smithers (because Houston doesn't have an airport and Smithers is the closest city to Houston) on Friday January 29, 2010 accompanied by my two siblings. My sister, Maryam and my brother, Hassan. Unfortunately my parents could not come. On that day my sister and I decided to explore the small town (Smithers). As we walked down the downtown streets of Smithers we noticed how people in this small town are so united and as you may notice anywhere else in Canada, the people were so nice and happy. Because of the long day I had ahead of me I couldn't explore much and needed to get a good sleep. But how can you sleep when you have so much excitement? It felt like I had drank 3 cups of coffee, but eventually I did fall asleep. It started early the next morning as we got ready, and I put on my uniform and stared in the mirror still not believing that this was actually happening. It was about an hour and 30 minutes of a drive from Smithers to Houston.

The roads weren't looking so good so I felt a little scared. And what made it even worse was that we were warned by our hotel receptionist that on our way there, there are many hills that come and of them was the most dangerous called the Hungry Hill, because in the past many people have even died due to accidents on that hill especially on roads like such. The name basically just said it all to me. On our way to Houston rather than being excited I was very scared. Knowing that my brother isn't the safest driver to be driving in this weather and him being the only one that could get me there I decided to pray to God to get me there safely and alive through out until we finally reached my meeting place, Houston's Visitor info center, safely and alive. We were the first ones to have arrived there but later more torchbearers started to show up. Soon it was 1:30 PM, which was the meeting time for all torchbearers where we discussed how the run would work and were given out torches by the Olympic 2010 team that was there to help/assist us. After snapping some photographs it was time to go to the shuttle bus (party bus) that dropped us all all to our spots along the route. Before we were all dropped off we all shared and talked about the journey we had travelled to reach this moment, how we applied, why we applied, and how we thought we had been picked above all those that had entered the contest, either through RBC or Coca Cola. Listening to the other torchbearers journey really made me so overwhelmed. Such as one of the stories that really touched me was told by a cancer survivor who had no hope to survive but now here he was holding the torch and is now doing remarkable things to help raise money for the cancer research foundation. This really goes to show you that you can never lose hope even when you are taking your last breath. When it was my turn to share I decided to share a little bit of my family history. My grandfather was also a part of the Olympics in London that were held in 1948.

He was a discus Throw and shot put champion, and also the First flag bearer for his country (Pakistan) in these Olympic games. So I felt very proud to be a part of these Olympic games in any way and I know that he would be too if he was here with me. As the incredible journey began 5 of the torchbearers had got dropped off to their destination which only left one more torchbearer who would pass the flame onto me and then I would end it for that town. Before both of us would get to carry the flame we took a break. As we got off the shuttle we could hear people screaming, shouting, cheering for us, and running towards us to get a picture with the torch. I definitely felt like a celebrity. As I was dropped off at my spot, cars that went by waved and honked by. It was great to see such spirit from such a small town. At that moment I felt honored, excited and maybe just a bit nervous as the time neared for me to run with the Olympic flame. Moments later the flame was in view. A relay attendant arrived on his bike and prepared my torch to receive the flame. That is when I thought to myself, 'This is really happening. I'm part of this big event. I'm going to be the part of history!' Soon after the flame was lit on my torch. I held the torch as high as I could, and started to run. I had so much pent up energy and so much excitement that I completely forgot one of the team member's advice to take it slow and enjoy the moment-- I just wanted to run. It was over quickly in the physical realm but it will never be over in my spirit. Nothing in the world could possibly mean as much to me as the second I got the Olympic torch in my hands, also knowing that I am going to be the part of 2010 Olympic history. It was the greatest moment of my life and I know I would not have traded it for the world. In our last issue, we cited Mohammad Janief to be the first Muslim torch bearer in BC. However, he ran on day 93, one day after Saja making him the second Muslim Canadian to carry the torch. We were unaware of Saja‚s experience and therefore regret this error. .