JOHOR BARU: The 397km walk undertaken by Rotarians of Johor Baru and Singapore, which started in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 20, has been a resounding success as they managed to raise US$50,000 (RM154,580).
Rotarian Leong Chee Wah, 52, who is from here, joined 17 Rotractors from the National University of Singapore (NUS), as they began the walk from the Gardens Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.
They were joined by more Rotarians for certain stretches throughout the journey.
Yesterday, the original group of walkers were joined by 20 other Rotarians for the final 10km stretch of the Malaysian section, from the Goodhope Hotel to the Eon Auto Mart Sdn Bhd in Jalan Skudai Kiri here.
The group will complete the walk to Singapore, where the event comes to a close at the Singapore Island Country Club at Sime Road today.
Among the participants was 21-year-old Lin Qian from Shen-yang, China, who is a NUS undergraduate.
“We motivated one another, and we walked about 35km to 40km each day,” Lin said.
Another participant, Robin Tay, 55, said some of the participants suffered from mild heatstroke and had to consume 40 litres of distilled water per day.
“We also had to stick to a strict diet of fresh vegetables and soya milk to keep our energy up,” said Tay, whose elder brother was afflicted by polio when young, but had since recovered.
Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, who came to greet the Rotarians at the hotel, also pledged to contribute US$1,000 to their cause.
Wee lauded the effort by the Rotarians, which aims to contribute to the eradication of polio.
Malaysia has been declared polio-free with the last three cases occurring in 1992.
However, countries such as Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India have yet to be declared polio-free.
Rotary Club’s “End Polio” campaign aims to vaccinate every child.
