Photo: VUB
VUB students “Walk the Peace Talk”
19 students from Brussels Dutch-medium Free University VUB have organised a sponsored walk, the proceeds of which will go to helping refugee children from Ukraine and their teachers. The students all study Educational Sciences at the university. Their “Walk the Peace Talk” walk will set off from Brussels on Sunday. The students will walk all the way to Poland. Final year student Simbarashe Manyika (photo above), Simba to his friends, is one of the students that are taking part in the fundraising walk.
Simba told the Brussels regional news platform Bruzz that “If people from Ukraine are forced to run away from a country that they love then I will run to them”.
The walk is being organised in collaboration with Teachers Without Frontiers. Together with the students Teachers Without Frontiers launched the “Walk the Peace Talk” project.
Simba Manyika and his fellow students are walking what is a very long distance to from Brussels to Poland to show solidarity with refugees that also have to cover long distances on foot in order to make their escape to safety.
All the money raised from the sponsored walk will go to Fundacja Świętego Mikołaja, a Polish NGO that helps children from the Ukrainain city of Mariupol and has an extensive support network for people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
To ensure that the long walk to Poland runs as smoothly as possible the students are looking for people to support them by offering overnight accommodation or by walking with them some of the way.
