UNE > News and Events > Browse by article > First steps to helping an international charity

Next New Director plots the course of national Centre January 28, 2005  

Previous Paying up to a worthy cause January 25, 2005 

First steps to helping an international charity

January 27, 2005

Amarjit kaur.jpgAcademic and staff members from the University of New England are hoping to recruit up to 150 people to take part in Oxfam’s annual Walk Against Want.
Coordinator Professor Amarjit Kaur, from UNE’s Faculty of Economics, Business and Law, said participants could choose to either walk 5km or 10km on a pre-determined route across Armidale.
“We will start the walk from Central Park and walk along the bike path to the university,” Professor Kaur (pictured) said.

Begun in 1967, Walk Against Want has become an annual, national event, where walks are organised in more than 100 locations across Australia, with walkers raising sponsorship to support communities with which Oxfam works.
Since its inception, Walk Against Want has raised more than $10 million to help communities in developing countries help themselves.
The UNE community has been organising local Walks Against Want for at least the past 10 years, with walks ranging between five and 10km.
Previous walks have seen up to 150 people take part, while nationally about 10,000 Australians commit to the walk each year.
This year, participants will walk in a loop across Armidale, starting at Central Park, walking up Faulkner St and eventually walking to the University and back.
“In the next few weeks we hope to talk to local schools and get other students and teachers involved in the walk,” Professor Kaur said.
She said there was an added reason to commit to helping in this year’s walk; Oxfam is one of the main charities helping victims of the Boxing Day tsunami disaster.
Money raised from the walks goes towards a number of projects, largely in developing countries like Ethiopia (where three quarters of the population cannot access fresh water) and Bangladesh (where most people can’t read and write) and Professor Kaur has also approached students living in Wright Village and UNE’s seven colleges to see whether they can either walk on the day or act as marshals.
For more information, phone Lydia Roberts on 6773 2779
or Professor Kaur on 6773 2874, or go to www.oxfam.org.au/walk

Posted by Lydia Roberts at January 27, 2005 02:25 PM