Walk for Syria, with Hope
by Kevin Chiu, Chief Executive Officer of World Vision Hong Kong
More
than 1,500 partners joined the Walk for Syria event to show their
care and support for the Syrian refugees. The Walk was held on a Saturday
morning at the scenic Clearwater Bay Golf and Country Club. More than $1.6
million was raised – to support World Vision's works for the refugees, in
Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.
We
did not give up hope!
The
war in Syria has been raging on for over five and a half years. Estimated death
toll stands at more than 400,000 – that is an average of 200 deaths a day. 4.8
million Syrians have fled the country, with another 6
million displaced inside, all
needing humanitarian assistance. Peace deals have not succeeded. Desperate, more
and more Syrians have no alternative but to leave their hometown and homeland,
leaping into the unknown. Most end up in refugee camps in the neighboring
countries, waiting and hoping to return home as soon as the war ends. But many
have been idling and waiting for five years.
Here
in Hong Kong, we feel faraway and helpless, though once a while, our conscience
gets stabbed when we see pictures of Syrian children drowned or wounded. At
times, we feel angry as we sense the pain of war and feel the fire of hell.
Overtime though, we become numbed and don't want to think about it. It is
tragic and we cannot help.
"Please
don't forget us. Please pray for peace in Syria," this is the refugees'
consistent plea when we ask them if they have anything to say to the Hong Kong
people. The homesick refugees need hope to wait... and to hang in there.
We
must not give up hope!
In the past five years, World Vision has been serving 2.3 million Syrian refugees with food coupons, water & sanitation facilities, children education, winter clothes, psychological support, and daily necessities.
Thank
you participants for joining the Walk! Thank you Clearwater Bay Golf and
Country Club for sponsoring the Walk. Thank you donors for supporting this
life-saving, hope-giving ministry!
Let's
"Walk for Syria" until they are home!