If thinking about adventure travel gets you excited, imagine actually doing it. Are you looking for an experience that will help you find balance and cultivate gratitude? Do you want to refocus, realign or reconnect? Do you want to experience the trip of a lifetime, while also supporting a good cause?
Well, then this is an adventure you can’t miss. In September of this year, we challenge you to challenge yourself, and join us for a trek through northern Vietnam, and raise money for some of Asia’s most vulnerable children. Here’s why.
This is your chance to do something life-changing
Yes, this will be a life-changing experience. You’ll spend five days trekking through northern Vietnam. The patchwork of rice paddies and rippling green mountains is a picturesque backdrop to Vietnam’s rural villages, where children and families continue to struggle with high levels of poverty.
As you lace up your boots and soak in the splendour revealed by every kilometre, you’ll have the chance to reflect, assess and grow. It’s on journeys like these, when you have the opportunity to see how others in the world live differently, that life-changing truths emerge.
Experience the traditions of Vietnamese culture
Rural Vietnam is home to rich traditions, many of which you’ll experience in the villages en route. From the taste of traditional food, to the colours and sounds of rural life, you’ll bear witness to the real Vietnam, the Vietnam outside the bright lights of Hanoi.
Make a difference by fundraising for children in need
All adventurers are asked to fundraise $3,500 in support of ChildFund Pass It Back, an award-winning sport for development program, recently the 2019 principal charity partner for Rugby World Cup.
The program teaches valuable life skills to help children build resilience, overcome life challenges and inspire positive social change in their communities. ChildFund Pass It Back is currently active in Laos, Philippines, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
There’s no catch, only an adventure
At the end of the trek, you’ll see where your fundraising money is going as you spend two days visiting ChildFund projects. You’ll be invited to play a game of tag rugby with children and coaches active in the ChildFund Pass It Back program, learning first-hand how supporters like you are helping children play, learn and grow.
Here’s some answers to questions you might have:
When is the trek?
From touchdown to lift off, the Inspired Adventures trek will take place between 5th and 16th September.
Do we have time for sight-seeing?
The adventure includes an initial few days in Hanoi, where you’ll bond with your teammates and meet your local guides, who’ll be leading the charge on the trek.
Once the trek is complete, you’ll spend time in Ha Long Bay, and visit a selection of ChildFund projects.
Is accomodation included?
Yes! We’ll arrange accommodation for all adventurers for the length of the trip. You’ll lodge in twin-share 3-star hotels and homestay during the trek.
How much does it cost?
With the exception of your fundraising target, you’ll be charged a non-refundable registration fee of AU $770, and a travel package of $2,590 (land only and subject to change).
Will you accept the challenge?
We challenge you to challenge yourself.
Don’t think you can raise the funds? Here’s how one Aussie couple have started to fundraise for their inspired adventure.
It’s not too late to kick-off your efforts, go on a life-changing adventure, and make a difference for children in need.
Thirty years ago, governments around the world adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
This was a watershed moment – for the first
time, children and youth under the age of 18 were recognised as having distinct
and particular human rights relating to their survival, development, protection
and participation.
The CRC has since become the most widely
ratified human rights treaty and has driven a huge amount of progress for
children.
Articles within the CRC have informed Australia’s national targets and action plans, and have also underpinned goals in the global development agendas –such as the Millennium Development Goals and the current Sustainable Development Goals.
Enormous progress has been made in the past
thirty years on children’s survival rates, access to education, poverty
reduction, improved nutrition, access to healthcare and commitments to protect
children from violence.
While this progress should be celebrated, it is evident that in many regions of the world children’s rights continue to be ignored and violated.
One of the rights frequently overlooked in the CRC is Article 31, children’s right to relax and play, and to join in a wide range of cultural, artistic and other recreational activities.
Despite play being a defining feature of
childhood and holding extraordinary benefits for children, it is often ignored and
undervalued. Instead, the ‘serious’ rights, such as the right to health,
education and protection, receive greater attention.
Research on the benefits of play in all its forms – informal and structured, physical and creative – is conclusive. Play develops creativity and imagination, enhances physical and emotional health, contributes to healthy brain development, and is essential to the development of social and emotional ties.
Play enables children to explore and understand their world, and fosters the development of social skills such as teamwork, conflict resolution, leadership and problem-solving. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that ‘play is so central to child development that it should be included in the very definition of childhood’.
Play is central to children’s lives and the
research points to its many benefits. However official data on this right is
negligible and it is rarely the focus of national or international agendas. Unlike
health or education which are routinely measured by governments and UN
agencies, there is no global data available on children’s access to play.
The assumption appears to be that it is
either not important enough to warrant official attention or that play occurs
naturally and spontaneously for children, so there is no need to adopt rigorous
systems to measure its prevalence.
However, in Australia and around the world,
children’s right to play is under threat.
For children in poorer communities, free time can be limited. Children use their time
outside of school hours to collect water, undertake domestic chores, help with
household income-generation activities or care for younger siblings while
parents are at work. In some of Australia’s neighbouring countries, one in five
children work; they do not attend school and have little time to play.
With increased urbanisation and a lack of
planning for recreational infrastructure, the availability of safe, accessible
outdoor spaces is becoming limited – particularly in the world’s megacities,
which proliferate in our region. For girls, high levels of harassment, crime
and violence act to discourage their involvement in play and recreation outside
the home.
In Australia, despite our reputation as a nation obsessed with sport, physical activity rates among children are on the decline. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare finds that 80% of children are not meeting physical activity recommendations, and childhood obesity is increasing.
One factor is the ‘over-scheduling’ of
children, with children in 2019 undertaking many more extracurricular
activities than previous generations. While many of these activities are forms
of structured play, the pressured timetables allow little time for informal
free playtime.
The advent of new technologies is also changing how children play, particularly among adolescents. Online gaming proliferates and reduces the time available for physical or creative recreation. The worldwide web brings extraordinary new opportunities for young people to learn and connect. It is now an integral new play domain for children and young people but it also brings new threats to their welfare.
The right to play is included in the CRC
because it is essential for children’s wellbeing. But it suffers from neglect.
Much greater attention should be given to understanding the opportunities and
obstacles to children’s play in Australia and in our region.
Only then can we give play the importance it deserves, and act to ensure that every child has the opportunity to experience a childhood where they can learn, grow and develop through play.