“Freedom to Walk” anti-trafficking fundraiser ends in Three Pagodas Pass

Min Thu Kha Aung – More than 70 participants joined the final day of a 370-kilometer walk from Bangkok to the Burma border in Three Pagodas Pass on Saturday to support efforts to end human trafficking across the globe.

The “Freedom to Walk” was founded by two recent university graduates, Ali Weiner from Yale University in the U.S. and Tanrak “Tanny” Chiengtong of Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. The event began in Bangkok on November 3 and covered 20 to 25 kilometers each day for 15 days. A total of 15 people representing 12 countries completed the entire journey, including long-time politician and the founder of Democracy for America, Governor Howard Dean.

According to co-founder Chiengtong, the Walk aimed to raise money for five beneficiary organizations working to fight human trafficking on five continents, and to educate a corps of “ambassadors” to continue anti-trafficking initiatives after the event concluded.

“This Walk has three objectives. The first is to raise USD 100,000 for our five organizations, which are doing wonderful work combating human trafficking. The second is to educate our walkers and raise awareness. And, [every day after the walk] we have small discussion groups and we come up with practical solutions where each individual can take action to combat human trafficking. The third [objective] is to have a corps of walkers who are interested and understand what human trafficking is.”

Weiner, the event’s other co-founder, said, “We have two reasons to walk from Bangkok to Burma. First, it is a beautiful walk, and it is really lovely to walk across Thailand. The second is that when we started to develop the idea, [we realized that] Burmese people, especially stateless Burmese people, are the most vulnerable people in Thailand to human trafficking. So, we want to make sure this [event] symbolizes them. The walk is to shine a light on their situation.”

Anita, a participant from the U.S. that walked the entire distance, said, “During the 15 days, we walk and talk and think about [human] trafficking and modern day slavery. In the evening, we have an educational component, where we continue to learn and, most importantly, we all realize that [no matter] how much we know or how little we know, we have to keep educating ourselves and learning more.”