Illawarra women's orphanage visit sparks fundraiser

But that’s what Jenny McGrath’s sister Trish chose to do for her 60th birthday.

Mrs McGrath went along with Trish for a three-week trip in April to the Hang Yang orphanage for abandoned and disabled children.

‘‘We just helped the carers that were there,’’ Mrs McGrath said.

‘‘We were virtually just there to love these littlies. We fed them, we walked and played with them. We just entertained them.’’

Mrs McGrath enjoyed the three-week stint and found the experience changed her. 

‘‘I found that in being over there, my eyes were opened up to beautiful little children who are so deserving of being cared for and loved,’’ she said.

‘‘They are just not given the same opportunities that children here in Australia are given.

‘‘The abandonment alone would have been hard for the children but to be abandoned and disabled ... yet most of them have smiles on their faces.’’

To help the orphanage, Mrs McGrath has organised a Wollongong event as part of the international Walk the Wall fundraising campaign.

The event is a walkathon where people collect sponsors to help raise money for abandoned and disabled children in China.

The Wollongong event is one of 13 being held in Australia and Mrs McGrath decided to organise it because she would be unable to attend Walk the Wall in Sydney’s Olympic Park.

‘‘I told them that I couldn’t help them in Olympic Park but I could help them more in Wollongong.’’

The Wollongong Walk the Wall event starts in Lang Park at 1pm on September 12, with registration from 12.30pm.

It is an eight-kilometre walk to Towradgi and back, with a barbecue at the Illawarra Brewery afterwards.

For more information or to sign up for the Wollongong event,  visit walkthewall.org and go to the locations page.