VietNamNet Bridge – Simon Niggli of Switzerland and Christoph Obmascher of Austria walked 7,000km from Europe to Asia, across 19 countries, over the last 13 months to collect aid for underprivileged Vietnamese children.

Simon Niggli meets with children in Tram tau District, the northern Yen Bai Province. — Photo World Vision

Departing on January 18, 2015, from Switzerland, the two men walked through many European countries to reach China. From China, they took trains and buses to Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Thailand, and finally reached Viet Nam.

They have travelled to Tram Tau District (in the northern Yen Bai Province) and to Lang Chanh District (Thanh Hoa Province) since late February, during which they met the two children they have been sponsoring through a programme of World Vision, an NGO.

After his first visit to Viet Nam in 1999, Simon contacted World Vision and started sponsoring a child in Lang Chanh District.

When the child grew up and left World Vision's sponsorship programme in 2012, Simon started sponsoring a second child, Le Xuan Khang, while Christoph has been sponsoring Phang A Tua in Tram Tau since 2014.

"We have seen so many beautiful places, met so many friendly people and experienced hospitality and warmth. Many people who live in difficult situations have touched our heart. Our key impression is the poorer the people, the more generous they are," Christoph said.

"Through our journey, we want to call more people to open their hearts to help poor children, especially those in Viet Nam, the country we love," Christoph said.

So far, about 30,000 sponsors from 14 countries, through World Vision's sponsorship programme, have supported more than 70,000 poor children in a number of areas, such as education, nutrition, livelihood and child rights in the country.

VNS