Did you ever roll your eyes when your parents told you that back in their day they had to walk to school in the roasting sun or the pouring rain?
They may have exaggerated a little to get you to traipse off to school, but in places like rural Cambodia, school kids really do walk up to 20km just to get the classroom – rain, hail or shine – and then they have to walk all the way home.
This immense round trip can be very discouraging for education and presents a big problem, especially for young girls trying to better their lives.
Remember Classroom of Hope?
Nicola and Duncan from Classroom of Hope are behind the #BagWalkers initiative
That’s Duncan Ward and Nicola Courtin from Classroom of Hope, the utterly amazing charity we wrote about a little while ago.
With Classroom of Hope, Duncan and Nic raise money that goes directly to helping build schools and getting proper learning supplies in developing countries like Cambodia and Rwanda.
Right now, Classroom of Hope is holding a big fundraising initiative called #BagWalkers – which aims to raise funds in support of girl’s education.
#BagWalkers!
How BagWalkers works
Each person who participates in the BagWalkers initiative has a schoolbag packed with textbooks, a notebook, pens and pencils and a pedometer. And you take it everywhere you go until you rack up 10km and pass it on to someone else.
While you walk, you raise money through donations and sponsorship. If you raise $400, that can pay for the education of up to 10 girls every a year.
So the more money raised, the more learning happens – and the big goal is to reach $50,000.
We’re supporting #BagWalkers too
We caught up with Duncan and Nic right before we jetted off to Thailand and they gave us a BagWalkers bag to take with us – and so we’ve begun strapping it on every time we step outside.
Please support us by donating to our team page.
Just follow the link and open your wallet! We’ll post lots of pics of our sweaty walks in the red hot Thai sun, and the bag may even come with us to Japan for some cherry blossom action.
There are heaps of other people all over Australia and the world doing the BagWalkers thing – including Australian 400m hurdler Lyndsay Perkin and Perth Glory and Irish international footballer Andy Keogh. So we’re in good company on the road!
Thank you for your generosity – it’s pretty hot here in Thailand but we’ll keep on walking for this brilliant cause.
Here’s a few snaps from other #BagWalkers doing their thing:
#Bagwalkers
#Bagwalkers
#Bagwalkers
