About Us
RUN supports vulnerable refugees, particularly women, to build resilience and nurture self-reliance for a more hopeful future. With sport as the springboard and education as the foundation, we help refugees to create a life of safety and dignity, in Hong Kong and beyond.
Our Vision
We envision a future where refugees are empowered to create a new life of safety and dignity, in Hong Kong and beyond.
Our Mission
To support vulnerable refugees, particularly women, to build resilience and nurture self-reliance for a more hopeful future.
Our Story
In 2015, our co-founder Virginie Goethals organised a hike for a small group of refugee women who were victims of sexual violence. At the end of the hike, the women told Virginie, “See you next week."
After that day, RUN was born as a weekly hike for women refugees, and we quickly expanded to include weekly track training sessions for men and women.
In the first few years, we operated as a chapter of Free to Run, an international NGO dedicated to using sport to empower women and girls in conflict-affected regions. As we grew our work to focus specifically on the needs of refugees and asylum seekers, we made the decision to establish ourselves as an independent Hong Kong-based organisation in 2018. That's how RUN was born.
Our Name
RUN stands for Rebuild, Unite, and Nurture. It speaks to our goal to support vulnerable refugees to rebuild their mental and physical strength, unite across differences as a community, and nurture each other through sport, education, and beyond.
Our participants have fled some of the world's most serious human rights abuses in some of the hardest places to call home. They have run away from war, rape, violence, and torture. In spite of this, we strive to turn that negative experience of running into something positive. Our running is one, not of running away, but of running towards, of a positive journey of healing, freedom, advancement, peace of mind, and a more hopeful future.
