By Jennifer Shaw, Contra Costa Times

Keris Dahlkamp has quite the conversation starter these days — his latest goal of joining the 22 athletes on record for successfully swimming the length of Lake Tahoe.

While Dahlkamp has Iron Man triathlons under his belt, news of this estimated 15-hour aquatic feat, which will start about 2am Aug. 11, typically gets an incredulous response.

He is quick to reply, sharing his own relatively recent awareness of the level of genocide, pillaging and rape of people in the Congo, and his ensuing idea to promote his 22-mile swim as a means to educate others about the humanitarian crisis. Dahlkamp also is inviting swimmers to join him for any length of the lake they can muster.

Kambale Musavuli calls himself “one of the lucky ones,” who managed to immigrate to the United States in 1998. A spokesman for Friends of the Congo now likens himself to “one of the Freedom Riders,” traveling from city to city throughout the U.S. to generate support for the organization’s Congo Connect Youth Initiative Project.

While the Congo native had heard of many kindhearted means to speak out against the atrocities during his travels, and while he says that “there’s no small action,” nothing has matched Dahlkamp’s challenge.

“I’ve never heard of anyone swimming 22 miles for the Congo. This tops everything I’ve heard before … He’s here in America and he’s saying I’m going to use my talent and speak for these voices. Sometimes it can feel very hopeless, but what Keris is doing, that’s very moving for me,” says Musavuli of his restored faith. “It’s just a matter of time before the world knows the situation, that six million people have disappeared from the face of the earth.”

During the laudable swim, Dahlkamp, a former Martinez resident who recently moved to Canyon, will measure his progress in micro milestones.

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