Taipei (AsiaNews) - About 3,000 people from 13 Catholic schools, a parish and three public schools took part on Saturday in a march titled 'End hunger, walk the world' (終止飢餓，為愛而走, "zhong zi ji er, wei ai er zou"), which is part of a World Food Programme (WFP) campaign involving thousands of students around the world to raise awareness about inequality, poverty and hunger.
Dai Xuhong (戴旭紅), a student from Hong Kong who is studying in Taipei for a semester to improve her level of Mandarin, is happy that she could take part in the march against hunger twice this year.
"In Hong Kong, we celebrated the event three months ago, on 6 June. We came out in great numbers," she said. "It was a great success. We raised a lot of money to help poor families, especially in Africa. Here in Taipei, I was able to walk with many young people united by so important an issue."
More than 2,000 students had pre-registered for the march, but organisers estimated that 3,000 people were ready to go at the starting line at Guang ren (光仁) High School in Banqiao (板橋) District, Taipei.
Prof Wu was upbeat about the great response among the 260 students from the Blessed Imelda Girls High School (靜修女中), the city's oldest Catholic school, which is run by Dominican sisters.
"Our students decided to walk with students from other schools, make new friends and work to fight hunger by raising funds for those who are hungry," Prof Wu said. "Students who had already registered for the march brought friends, but especially parents and relatives. The day thus saw a large crowd, united by this cause."
In the morning, rain threatened to disrupt the march, but the weather held out until its end.
"The rain would not have discouraged our students anyway," said Prof Chen, principal in a public school. "The kids were eager to take part in an international event and for such important cause. What is rain compared to hunger?"
Funds raised were divided between Caritas, which will distribute the money in Sudan, and the Sisters of St Marta (聖瑪爾大修女會) in Hualian and the Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Cross (聖十架慈愛修女會) in Taidung, on the south-eastern coast of Taiwan, who will help local needy families.
On Sunday, raising awareness about suffering continued on a different theme. Some students publicised a documentary about domestic violent, 'A quiet life' (平安好日子, pingan hao rizi), which was projected for free in some theatres in Taipei attracting a fair number of spectators.
"Some facts are so ugly, you wouldn't want to talk about them," a college student said. "However, the only way of exposing them is to make everyone conscious that they exist," she added, "reacting with consequence at both the legal and human level, never accepting physical or psychological subordination of any kind."