The healing power of hiking in the pandemic

The negative impact of COVID-19 on the mental health and wellbeing around the world has been well documented. Hong Kong has had one of the most severe pandemic restrictions, and the fifth wave, at the start of 2022, saw the closure of schools, playgrounds, sports facilities and beaches all across the city. These restrictions impacted the entire population of Hong Kong, but children and young people from poor backgrounds were hit the hardest.

RUN Hong Kong is an NGO that supports vulnerable refugees 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. RUN participants have fled from some of the world’s most serious conflicts. Over 70% of the participants have suffered from horrendous human rights abuses, including torture, rape, physical and mental abuse, or a combination of these. Many are suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, or similar conditions.

Of the 117 refugees and asylum seekers that RUN currently supports, 54 are children. This figure is reflected on a global scale, where around half of all refugees are under the age of 18. Many of the children at RUN suffer from PTSD or trans-generational PTSD, and face unique challenges as refugee children. 

As Hong Kong is not signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, refugees in Hong Kong live under the poverty line. This means living in extremely cramped conditions in some of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in the world, with insufficient access to basic needs. Therefore, when schools, parks and beaches are closed due to local COVID restrictions, children at RUN face a serious mental health crisis.

Parents report that their children are feeling isolated and stressed. Having no access to outdoor activities whatsoever is a significant issue. In fact, the Alliance for Children Development Rights reported that four-fifths of parents from low income families did not have access to extracurricular activities for their children due to the fact that they could not afford any.

One RUN participant explained that the only exercise that her 3-year-old son had access to was their weekly walk to the supermarket: “He cried when he saw that the park was closed and I could not explain to him why we couldn't play there.” She shared that she would love to be able to take him to country parks and outdoor spaces, but refugees are only given a small stipend for transport that does not allow leisure activities. Living in a neighbourhood with only high-rise buildings and busy roads to offer, the option of outdoor play was completely inaccessible to this mother and many like her in Hong Kong.

In 2021, in partnership with Laureus Sport for Good and the Hong Kong Rugby Union, RUN launched sport sessions that integrate mental health education for refugee children. The programme assesses the children's wellbeing through games, equips the children with tools to express their feelings and is supplemented with counselling and psychological support. While the original programme was paused due to COVID restrictions, RUN quickly created another programme to ensure that refugee children were able to continue to exercise regularly and receive psychological support.

RUN's innovative family hiking programme trained one parent of each family unit to lead hikes in a safe way, providing them with a transportation stipend, maps, and hiking guides so that they could access trails and country parks in remote areas of Hong Kong, which would otherwise be inaccessible to them.

After the first two months, the evidence of the mental health benefits of this relatively simple programme was overwhelming. 75% of parents noticed a better mood in their children as a direct result of the self-guided hiking programme, 55% reported that their children’s sleep improved, and 80% said that they felt a sense of accomplishment. Hiking also allowed refugee families coming from over 22 countries to break down barriers allowing them to access natural spaces that they considered out of reach.

The impact on the children was noted immediately. One mother said, “My kids are sleeping better now and getting stronger.” Others described how much fun their kids had, saying that they no longer wanted to go home or spend time behind screens, but have fun exploring nature, and could not wait for new hiking routes to be shared by RUN.

Providing the children with access to sport has had huge mental health benefits for the whole family as well. One mother reported that “the hiking has brought us together as a family so much” and many of RUN's participants enjoyed more open communication within the family and a better understanding of each other's needs thanks to spending more time together and sharing a joint appreciation of nature. Both parents and children also shared a sense of pride and accomplishment: “The kids hiking makes me so happy. It is getting me through the [early school holidays] and I feel like I can do something great for my daughter."

These children, all of whom have tumultuous lives, had a fragile stability taken away from them by the COVID-19 restrictions as sport and the community it provides allowed them to face these trying times, and just be children.

The challenges presented to us by the pandemic have demonstrated that sport and exercise has meaning beyond being just an extracurricular activity and is an indispensable pillar for many.

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Erin Brown is the Sports Programmes Manager at RUN Hong Kong and is a keen runner in her free time.