To call for support for poor children in Vietnam, Simon Niggli from Switzerland and Christoph Obmascher from Austria have walked 7,000km from Europe to Asia, across 19 countries over the past 13 months.

Christoph Obmascher (left) and Simon Niggli (Photo: World Vision)

Departuring on January18th, 2015 from Switzerland, the two men went on foot through many European countries to China. From China, they took trains and buses to Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Vietnam.

They have traveled to Yen Bai province’s Tram Tau district and to Thanh Hoa province’s Lang Chanh district since late February, in which they have met the two children they have sponsored through World Vision’s program. All the donation that they have raised through their journey will be given to World Vision to implement education projects for children in the two districts.

Over the past 15 years, Simon has been a generous sponsor of poor children in Vietnam. Feeling deep affection for the country when first visiting it in 1999, he contacted World Vision and started to sponsor a child in Lang Chanh district. When the child grew up and went out of World Vision’s sponsorship program in 2012, Simon has sponsored the second child, Le Xuan Khang, whom he visited early this week in the district.

Christoph has sponsored Phang A Tua in Tram Tau district since 2014. In the meeting with the sponsored child and his family last week, he said: “We have seen so many beautiful places, met so many friendly people and experienced hospitality and warmth. Many people who are living in such difficult situations have touched our heart. Our most impression is the poorer people are, the more generous they are. Through our walking journey, we want to call for more people to open their hearts to help poor children, especially those in Vietnam, the country we love“.

Simon and Christoph quit their jobs and spent two years preparing for their trip. They scrutinized all the walkable roads and weather conditions that were suitable for walking as well as met potential sponsors from Switzerland and Austria before they started their trip.

Their journey has been screened on Austrian and Swiss national television channels.

The sponsorship is part of World Vision’s Area Development Program, which lasts15 years in Vietnam. So far, around 30,000 sponsors from 14 countries, through World Vision’s sponsorship program, have supported more than 70,000 poor children in a number of fields including education, nutrition, livelihood and children’s right in the country./.

( Compiled by VNF )