An Anchorage man who recently visited young fans of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Kenya brought back handmade gifts for its mushers this week.
Brad Schmitz coordinates tours for English language learners. His travels have taken him to classrooms around the world, including in Kenya, where he was given 200 bead bracelets destined for competitors in this year's Iditarod.
The bracelets were made by a class at Sheba Education Center – a K-8 school in the African nation’s capital of Nairobi. Schmitz says the students have been interested in the Iditarod since starting a pen pal program with a class in Homer in 2021.
“Kind of through the whole process, it exploded in Kenya. They were so excited to be learning about Alaska,” Schmitz said.
On a whim, Schmitz sent a photo of an old Iditarod dog sled to the students’ teacher, Martha Owidhi.
“I'm like, 'Hey, could you guys build a dog sled at your school?'" Schmitz recalled. "Just not having any clue of what was going to happen.”
To his surprise, Owidhi sent back a photo of a polka-dotted sheet of plywood with a rudimentary wood frame. A handwritten sign reading, “Kenya’s Dog Sled” adorned the top.
Schmitz says the photo gave him a “tidal wave of inspiration” to bring the students to see the Iditarod firsthand.
A number of Alaska businesses, including Anchorage's Snow City Cafe and Bear Tooth restaurants, have already offered to help make the dream a reality by donating gift cards and promising meals when the kids get here.
But Schmitz says what’s lacking is cash for plane tickets, which he expects will cost $25,000. He also says visas for the students will also take a while, so in the meantime they hope the bracelets will bring a piece of Kenya to the course.
“What we're hoping with bracelets and all these amazing things, you know, we'll have that kind of energy leading up to next year kind of a thing," Schmitz said.
Schmitz personally distributed the bracelets Thursday night at the Musher Meet & Greet event in Anchorage. He’s also traveling to Nome for the finish, where he hopes he’ll be able to meet mushers who brought the bracelets along on trail.
For more on the project, visit kenyatoiditarod.com.