Walk in New Zealand targets victims of child abuse, neglected children
Awalk in New Zealand to raise funds for child abuse and for children who have been neglected in Fiji will be undertaken by Fijians living in New Zealand and here late next year. The walk, which will be conducted in certain areas in the North and South Islands is targeted to cover 5138 kilometres.
DAV Girls College school teacher Savneel Sangeet, 26, who is participating in the walk, is calling on all corporate organisations here to involve themselves in the initiative. Mr Sangeet said seven people so far have confirmed their participation.
“The walk is aimed to raise funds for the educational needs of these children who also come from disadvantaged families. Business houses and other stakeholders are invited to be part of this,” he said. Mr Sangeet said he recently completed a walk around Viti Levu with 30 people for the Foundation of Education for the Needy Children on August 16- 25 and raised $120,000.
“Now we are planning to walk around New Zealand and it is expected to cover 93 days, and we are yet to confirm if more will join,” he said.
“We will raise funds for NGOs (non-government organisations) who will provide education for children’s needs in Fiji and a summit would be held from October 1, 2018 which is kind of a training the team for the NZ walk,” he said. “Child abuse is a severe matter and just having conferences in big hotels is not enough.
“We need to reach out to people on the ground, in a village setting, people need to know the rights of children and this is the part that is missing. We need to come down to rural settlements, face to face.”
Other logistics for the walk in New Zealand is currently being sought by the organisers.