Walk for Street Children (part 1)

 

After 10 editions of #duwmee for Mobile School, our annual charity walk has resurfaced and been reorganised as the Walk for Street Children. 
As always I volunteer to help Mobile School with this event and I profit from some spare vacation days that I always save up for emergencies during the year but if not taken, I know I can use them valuable at the end of the year.  

Unlike other years I didn't have to do any of the social media communication beforehand.  The issue is that social media nowadays relies on good quality graphics and I can't make them. So I always need to request a movie, reel or picture and then I post it.  Not much added value by me really.
But I had fun baking a huge pile of crepes for the food market. And I helped prepare some of the materials needed the day before the event. 

On Saturday 13th December, it was time for the very first Walk for Street Children.  Now it is no longer a growing group of walkers, but it is a combination of different loops that can be done at own pace and timing or that can still be done in group at set hours (but not necessarily in a continuation).  All the loops are designed around a central location where a cosy winter market setting was organised with food and music. 

As usual I went to check it out and see some of the early walkers because I do post on the Facebook page all day updates of the event. The central hall not to far from Leuven was decorated quite cosily and it's always fun to meet other volunteers again at "our yearly date" as I joke. 

It was still very calm in the morning but while some families had a small breakfast I went out in the village to greet the tiny but very brave group that had left for a 21 km walk before dawn already. While we were still sipping our coffee to wake up, they had already done half a marathon of walking.  

I stayed until the loop of 10,5 km was ready to leave before noon.  This time it was a bigger groups and as usual they take flags along of all the countries where little mobile schools are brought to the street children.  That's always such a cool sight in my opinion. 

The Tomorrowland foundation is a partner of Mobile School, therefore we always also carry the Tomorrowland flag along. 

Knowing that all was running smoothly according to plan, I quickly profited to disappear before noon and have a quick lunch at home after which I got ready to return to walk the 2 last loops myself with friends.