The on campus walk was to raise awareness as well as funds | Dina Kesbeh/The Daily Cougar
Students, alumni and parents signed up to take part in Muslim Student Associations’ second annual 5K walk Saturday to raise awareness and funding for End7.
End7 is a campaign managed by Global Network that aims to stop seven neglected tropical diseases, which affect more than half a billion children, by 2020.
“It takes eight to 10 people to put this walk together. We accomplished what we wanted, which was to raise awareness about the neglected diseases and raise money to help in any way we can,” said Maha Farooqi, communication science and disorders senior and coordinator for the walk-a-thon.
The goal of the event was to raise awareness about these diseases.
“This walk was great because it brought everyone together, but also, it’s bringing awareness to what’s going on. Especially that the tropical diseases are affecting a lot of kids, and I think we all need to support it and help fight for this cause,” said nutrition freshman Sarah Radwan.
It appears to have worked. Students like supply chain management senior Hanzila Hussain expressed surprise at the ease of participation and the severity of the probable.
“I’ve never participated in something like this before, so seeing everyone come out and support such a great cause is truly warming. It’s something we need to be aware of and spread the word about the tropical diseases. Even if it’s through entertainment, at least it shows that we are all in this together,” Hussain said.
UH alumnus Michael McHugh stressed the importance about contributing to causes in any way possible. If you don’t have the money, then things like walks or runs are a great way to raise awareness for a cause, McHugh said.
“This is a great opportunity to support a very important cause we need to do more research in helping and debilitate disease across the globe. This is an issue that the world has neglected. It’s important to address issues that people aren’t willing to talk about as much,” McHugh said.
