a solidarity race organized to help the “Children of the Mekong”
Run to help the children of the Mekong. This is what an association is proposing on Sunday, October 16 at the turn of a charity course in Toulouse. An initiative carried out each year by the association Mekong Childrenwhich works on behalf of underprivileged children and families in Southeast Asia.
Walk or run for a good cause
The meeting is given from 9 am at the Grande Plaine park, near the Cité de l’Espace. This Sunday, October 16, Toulouse could participate in ae solidarity course baptized “I walk or I run for the children of the Mekong“. This year, the event returns to the Pink City for its fifth edition. With friends, family and even alone, Toulouse residents are invited to put on their baskets, for a good cause.
“As the name of the race specifies, the participants are not obliged to run”, specifies Antoine Bertoldo, delegate of the association, contacted by The Independent Opinion.
On the program: musical entertainment, welcome coffee, drinks and fruit. A guest will be present to encourage the participants: the former Stade Toulousain player Fabien Pelous.
It is children and young people over 12 who will start the walk at 9:15 a.m. for 1.5 or 3 km. The departure of walkers and Nordic walkers will be given at 9:50 am. As for the runners, they will set off at 10.30 am for a 5 km or 10 km loop for the bravest. Please note that access to changing rooms and toilets is provided. To participate, just register and pay 15 euros. To your baskets!
“40 euros to feed a family for a month”
Whether or not you take part in the race, it is possible to make a contribution to the building by making a donation to the association.
“For 14 euros, you can feed a child for a month and for 28 euros, feed him for thirty days,” says Antoine Bertoldo.
And to add: “all the profits generated by the event are reversed to schools on site, in order to participate in the construction of classes, but also to feed the students who often walk ten kilometers to go to the school”. Please note that these donations are tax deductible. Supported by the town hall of Toulouse, this race raises between 5,000 and 7,000 euros each year for the children of the Mekong. “To give you an idea, with 40 euros, you can feed a whole family for a month!”, explains Antoine Bertoldo.
60,000 children supported
For 64 years, the association Enfants du Mékong has been helping disadvantaged children and families in Southeast Asia. Founded in 1958, the association makes it possible to structure the sponsorship system thanks to which sponsors can help the children of the Mekong by offering them a scholarship or welcoming a young person who has come to study in France. An initiative of René Péchard, who disappeared in 1988.
“He was a doctor based in Paris. He had himself traveled to Cambodia and Laos, where he treated and met the population in need. On his return to France, he said to himself that he had to act, in particular in favor of access to education for children. He said that an educated child is a child who brings hope to his country”, says Antoine Bertoldo.
Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Burma… The association works with five countries, which make up the Mekong. Due to its worrying situation, the Philippines is also one of the country beneficiaries of the collective’s actions. Thanks to its actions, the association Enfants du Mékong received the Human Rights Prize in 1990. Today, there are nearly 23,000 sponsored children and 60,000 supported children who can thus access education each year.
>> Practical information:
Sunday October 16;
From 9 a.m.;
Parking: Cité de l’Espace. Near the Campanile Hotel. Gonord Avenue.
Transport access: Tisséo bus Line 37;
Price: 15 euro.