Run for the Water Marks Its 20th Anniversary

In 1993, Gilbert Tuhabonye survived a period of ethnic killings in the East African country Burundi, when the Hutu majority persecuted Tutsis. Tuhabonye remembers being forced into his high school while a mob set the building on fire. He spent at least eight hours trapped in the flames, praying for God to rescue him. Then, he used a dead body to break open a window and jumped. “I didn’t have a choice,” he recalls. “I was determined to get out.” A skilled runner, Tuhabonye fled to a hospital with his body on fire and managed to reunite with his family later on. During his hospitalization, he says, “I spent three months trying to heal emotionally, physically, and I learned how to forgive, to move on.” 

Tuhabonye received a full scholarship to Tulane University, immigrated westward in 1996, and trained as an Olympic athlete. At the 1996 Atlanta games, he served as the first Burundian torchbearer. He arrived in Austin in 2001, where he coaches under Gilbert’s Gazelles and co-founded the Gazelle Foundation in 2006. The foundation’s annual flagship event is just around the corner: This Sunday, Nov. 8, thousands of people will take to the streets of Austin for the Run for the Water. A 5K and 10-mile race both start at 7am, followed by a kids’ run at 9:15am. Registered runners can pick up their packets on Friday or Saturday at Karavel Shoes on Anderson Lane, with a 3-mile pre-race Shake Out Run on Saturday offering vendors, coffee, snacks, and a set by Tiny Truck DJ.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the race, which Tuhabonye views as an especially heartfelt milestone. “When you think about what we’ve accomplished in the last 20 years, it’s just so remarkable,” Tuhabonye marvels. “Twenty years is worthy of celebrating because our foundation is run by people that really want to donate their time and talents. Austin is a beautiful city, active and philanthropic.” Tuhabonye says he’s grateful for the local support his foundation has received to create the race. “We thank the people from West Austin for allowing us to use the neighborhood to change the lives of people,” he expressed. “It takes a village, and the Austin community has been a huge help to us.” 

Proceeds from the race fund clean water projects amid Burundi’s water crisis. The country faces a drinking water shortage due to rising temperatures and drought, and much of the water found in rural areas is contaminated. Tuhabonye’s Gazelle Foundation helps build clean water systems accessible to Burundian villages, providing local jobs and reducing the amount of time locals need to travel to fetch clean water. 

Whenever Tuhabonye visits his home country, he says community members call him an “angel” for his efforts. But he doesn’t see himself that way. “The angels are the people in Austin that donate and contribute,” Tuhabonye explains. “I am just the guy, the survivor, that had a vision and a goal to give back.”

As a child, Tuhabonye remembers a time when his mother fell sick. He and some friends carried her to the hospital. “When we got there, she said, ‘Son, we need water,’” he recalls. “So I skipped school to go fetch water for my mom. I will never forget that story.” She might have died without that clean water, he explains. Decades later, the anecdote continues to resonate with him: “When I talk to her, she always says, ‘Thank you for the water.’”

This article appears in November 6 • 2026.