How does an idea between two friends go from a pie-in-the-sky premise to an international event drawing influential politicians, ambassadors and organizations in mere months? With sheer determination and a lot of enthusiasm.
Freedom to Walk is the brainchild of Ali Weiner and Tanrak Chiengtong, who met while volunteering in the flood relief efforts. The dynamic pair soon hatched the idea to walk over 300km from Bangkok to Burma during November 3-16 and to raise at least USD100,000 for five human trafficking charities worldwide.
A shared passion for human rights and a mammoth effort has turned their idea into reality. The event, due to be held in November, has attracted people from around the world including Kristie Kenney, the US Ambassador to Thailand, and American politician Howard Dean who ran for president in 2004. Kenney will walk on the first day of the event, while Dean will join for the second half of the walk after the US election.
“We’re aiming to get 50 to 100 people to walk on the first day and a vanguard of around 20 to complete the walk, which ends at the border, where a lot of stateless Burmese at a high risk of being trafficked are based,” says Weiner. “Because there’s an educational component to the walk – with walkers learning about trafficking in the evenings – we hope they will go home and spread the word about trafficking after the event.”
One of the key issues the pair want to highlight is that human trafficking isn’t just a problem in developing countries, or exclusive to the sex industry. “By selecting the five beneficiaries we did, we are trying to raise awareness about the fact that trafficking takes place in virtually every country in the world, across multiple industries,” says Weiner.
The five charities benefitting from the walk are Thailand’s Dream Project Foundation, which operates a home for stateless children along the Thai-Burmese border, The US’s Polaris Project, which is dedicated to stopping trafficking for both sex and labour, Ecuadorian charity, Fundacion Amauta, which works to put an end to forced factory labour in Venezuela and Columbia, Ghanian charity the International Organisation for Migration, which works to combat the trafficking of young boys into the fishing industry, and Amsterdam’s La Strada International, which works to stop the trafficking of people for sex and labour in Eastern Europe.
“We really did our due diligence to find the right charities,” says Tanny. “Initially, we spoke to the International Organization for Migration, the migration arm of the UN. They recommended a list of charities from across the world with diverse trafficking causes. These are all well-known organizations, but we Skyped them all individually and asked them a lot of questions about where every dollar would go.”
But, if just the thought of walking for sixteen days makes your feet break out in blisters, the good news is, there’s another way you can help – one that won’t make you break into a sweat. For THB3,000, you can attend the Freedom to Walk fundraising dinner at the prestigious Bo.Lan restaurant on September 20th from 7pm to 10pm. Tickets include the Bo.Lan Balance Menu, paired with wines. 100% of all ticket sales will go to Freedom to Walk’s beneficiaries.
To sign up for the walk or the Bo.Lan dinner, head to the Freedom to Walk website at www.freedomtowalk.org
