ELLOUISE CRAWFORD
A MASSIVE turnout of more
than 650 people took part in
the Walk My Way fundraising
event on Saturday, as a show
of support for East African refugee
children and their right to
go to school.
Organised by the aid and development
agency of the Lutheran
Church-Australian Lutheran
World Service, Walk My Way
had participants walk 26 kilometres
from Redeemer Lutheran
School, in Nuriootpa to St Jakobi
Lutheran Campus at Lyndoch.
Each $26 raised supports one
child in school for one year, with
the Barossa event raising enough
money to support 8013 refugee
children.
Walkers were aged from five
to 85, and included a number of
wheelchairs and prams in Wheel
My Way, along with a number of
enthusiastic dogs happy to Woof
My Way.
Immanuel Lutheran School
Gawler had students, parents and
teaching staff take part in the initiative
by walking as the Gawler
Gazelles, as well as singing a
blessing for the crowd of walkers
at the opening.
School deputy principal Simon
Wundersitz said it was exciting to
see participation grow from when
the school first took part in Walk
My Way in 2017, with a team of
four.
“What’s even more exciting
is that Immanuel, representing
Gawler, has raised $4723, which
can support 181 refugee children
in school for one year,” he said.
On Friday, the school will
do its own Walk My Way, with
many more students and teachers
taking part to do even more to
help.
Simon saidevents such as Walk
My Way were an important part
of the service-learning Immanuel
provides for students.
“Our aim is to help students see
that serving others is part of being
a valuable contributing member
of the community – and is also
very rewarding,” he said.
“Events like Walk My Way are
important as they help students
gain an understanding of difficulties
students face in East Africa,
and hopefully an appreciation of
the choices we have in Australia
in terms of education.”
The national target for ALWS’s
Walk My Way this year is
to support 10,000 refugee children
to go to school.
ALWS community action manager
Jonathan Krause said South
Australia was leading the way
with its efforts.
“South Australians alone –
in particular, people across the
Barossa Valley and surrounding
areas like Gawler – have already
raised enough money to support
8013 refugee children to go to
school,” he said.
“Before our help from Australia,
these children did their learning
sitting on rocks under trees,
practising their writing in the dirt.
“Those ‘lucky’ enough to be in
classrooms are often crammed in
100 at a time into stifling hot corrugated-
iron sheds.”
Money raised in Walk My Way
helps children and young people
at Kakuma Refugee Camp in
Kenya, which hosts more than
180,000 refugees from South Sudan,
Burundi and Somalia.
Help also goes to a Displaced
Persons Camp inside war-torn
Somalia, and into remote regions
of South Sudan where locusts and
floods have destroyed crops and
put families in danger.
Mr Krause, who has visited
South Sudan and Kakuma Refugee
Camp many times, said 60
per cent of the world’s refugees
were children.
“While Gawler may be a long
way from these places where
children are in so much danger,
love closes the gap,” he said.
“The education we give now is
something no one can ever take
away, and enables these children
to contribute to their communities,
just as Immanuel seeks for
its students.”
Donations are still welcome
(walkmyway.org.au).