In 1992, a group of friends in Hong Kong learned that the cost of a one-way train ticket from Kowloon to Guangzhou was enough to support the education of a mainland student for one year. Seeking to raise money for impoverished areas in China, seven people trekked 100 kilometers to Guangzhou the following year, donating the money they saved on a train ticket to primary students on the Chinese mainland.
Since then, the walking fundraising campaign has grown into an annual event attracting hundreds of avid participants, and has raised more than HKD8,300 million in donations since 1993 to support 1,300 primary schools and more than 30 million students in underprivileged areas in China.
This past Chinese New Year holiday, two Hong Kongese men in their 80s completed the five-day trek: 89-year-old Lu Xiangmao and 84-year-old Chen Rudong. Though Lu received a bit of help from a wheelchair, this year’s journey marked his 18th time participating in the ‘On the Road Guangzhou’ campaign, which he says he hopes he will still be a part of when he’s 99.
For 84-year-old Chen, who walked the entire 100-kilometer route unassisted, having the opportunity to help poor children while exercising is his greatest motivation. This was his 22nd time participating in the annual charity walk.
More than 150 people joined in the initiative last week, each raising around HKD3,800 on average with extra donations from friends and family, according to the activity’s ambassador.
The campaign is revered as one of the oldest cooperative public projects between Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and has become a model for other charitable organizations in the region.
[Cover image via wenweipo]
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