Corryong’s annual Ping-Pong-A-Thon event last weekend returned to a 24-hour marathon format, with more than 30 men playing table tennis and being sponsored by generous donors.
That country spirit saw a total of $7026 raised to support the fight against human trafficking.
Fathers and sons; school mates; grandfathers mentoring young men; men of all ages from 3 to 80 took up bats to fight one of the greatest injustices of this age.
Two participants -Michael Cremona and Craig Stephens (pictured) – stood tall playing the full 24 hours.
Many of the men had recently seen the movie ‘Sound of Freedom’ which confronts the reality of human trafficking through the true story of one man’s fightback to rescue trafficked children.
Chief Relationship Officer of Ping-Pong-A-Thon, Matt Maudlin, often hears, “Surely it’s not happening in Australia because we’re Western, we’re advanced. It can’t be happening, right?
“Wrong, it’s definitely happening here!” he said.
“Not only is the number of slaves worldwide double the population of Australia (more than 50 million and rising) but there are also humans being trafficked in and around our country.”
The Pong’s newest partner, HerSpace, is working to educate, engage, rescue and restore men and women in Australia who are trafficked in country areas onto farms as forced labour and in urban homes as domestic slavery, as much as those exploited through prostitution and forced marriages.
How do you eat an elephant? In the same way, Matt says the only way to avoid being overwhelmed by the enormous issue of modern-day slavery is “to take one bite at a time. We’re not naive,” he continues.
“We’re not for a moment pretending that $4M completely changes slavery around the world but we always say that, as an individual, I can’t do everything but I can do something. And my something just might be everything to one individual.”
Pong organisers thanked Corryong IGA for supplying barbecue food, Corryong Courier for promotion of the event, CNC for the loan of a TV, Corryong Memorial Hall for the loan of an extra table tennis table and Cudgewa North Pastoral Company for display of the Pong banner on a large water tank.
“The people of the Upper Murray have again shown tremendous support,” said organiser Craig Stephens said.
“We thank you all most sincerely on behalf of some of the world’s most vulnerable people who, one person at a time are finding their voices and their freedom.”
You can find out more information about the Pong at www.pingpongathon.com.
This article appeared in the Corryong Courier, 21 September 2023.
