Church to church: Hong Kong teacher to walk 2,000km from England to Vatican City to raise money for poor families in Manila

When Steve Hackman’s students heard he was walking the Via Francigena – the 2,000km ancient trail from Canterbury, England, across the channel to France and through Switzerland before crossing Italy to The Vatican – they had one question.

“Are you like Jesus? Will you be walking on water when you cross the Channel?”

Hackman, the Head of Christian & Community Development Division at Yew Chung Education Foundation, had a pragmatic reply: “Unlike Jesus, Mr Hackman will be getting a ferry.”

When Hackman embarks on his 2½ month journey on June 1, he will, however, be doing a saintly act, raising money and awareness for the Yew Chung International School (YCIS) of Hong Kong’s Seeds of Hope programme, with all donations going to Kids International Ministries in the Philippines that provides education, food, and shelter to impoverished families outside Manila.

As we settle into the music room of the YCIS campus in Kowloon Tong, it becomes apparent that Hackman is excited about his upcoming journey, one that has attracted people for many hundreds of years (in medieval times it was a pilgrimage route for those visiting the Holy See and the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul).

It also becomes apparent that he is something of a “walkaholic”.