Chris Hare

By nature, me picking rare diseases wasn't something I thought every student could buy into. So there was a teacher at my school who I got along very closely with because he himself was ex-military. He was a huge six foot eight Irish ex-paratrooper. And I think he was a national athlete. And he said, have you heard about human trafficking?

By nature, me picking rare diseases wasn't something I thought every student could buy into. So there was a teacher at my school who I got along very closely with because he himself was ex-military. He was a huge six foot eight Irish ex-paratrooper. And I think he was a national athlete. And he said, have you heard about human trafficking?

And if I thought of human trafficking at the time, I assumed it was Liam Neeson-style, taken, gorgeous young woman gets kidnapped by Rich Shake on the streets of Paris rather than what we know of the issue as today.

And if I thought of human trafficking at the time, I assumed it was Liam Neeson-style, taken, gorgeous young woman gets kidnapped by Rich Shake on the streets of Paris rather than what we know of the issue as today.

I was curious, and he introduced me to one cause he was working with, which was the trafficking of children from rural communities in Nepal into circuses in India where they were subject to all kinds of abuse. And the situation was so horrific, it didn't take me long to say, yeah, this is something that any student could buy in.

I was curious, and he introduced me to one cause he was working with, which was the trafficking of children from rural communities in Nepal into circuses in India where they were subject to all kinds of abuse. And the situation was so horrific, it didn't take me long to say, yeah, this is something that any student could buy in.

But it's important to know I didn't really know anything about human trafficking or modern slavery. I really just cared about sharing the experience of pushing yourself for a good cause, which in my view was life transformational. The 24-hour race, the first event took place in 2010 and was originally supposed to be a one-off event.

But it's important to know I didn't really know anything about human trafficking or modern slavery. I really just cared about sharing the experience of pushing yourself for a good cause, which in my view was life transformational. The 24-hour race, the first event took place in 2010 and was originally supposed to be a one-off event.

I remember actually pitching it to teachers at various schools in Hong Kong, and they were sympathetic but ultimately dismissive because the idea that their students, who they could struggle to recruit for charity walkathons, would be giving their free weekends to run 24 hours non-stop seemed a little comical.

I remember actually pitching it to teachers at various schools in Hong Kong, and they were sympathetic but ultimately dismissive because the idea that their students, who they could struggle to recruit for charity walkathons, would be giving their free weekends to run 24 hours non-stop seemed a little comical.

And so in the end, after fruitless pitches with, I want to say, over a dozen schools, we ended up working directly with students. And we asked students to put together their own teams. We asked students to help us organize the actual event, which was hosted in a public place, so it required all sorts of permits and fundraising efforts.

And so in the end, after fruitless pitches with, I want to say, over a dozen schools, we ended up working directly with students. And we asked students to put together their own teams. We asked students to help us organize the actual event, which was hosted in a public place, so it required all sorts of permits and fundraising efforts.

And that turned out to be the magic ingredient that has propelled the 24 hour race since, which is a movement by students for students. Now I want to emphasize the first event was really intended as a one-off event. We would do this relay race one time and that would be it. But it became so popular in its first year that it was clear we needed a successor.

And that turned out to be the magic ingredient that has propelled the 24 hour race since, which is a movement by students for students. Now I want to emphasize the first event was really intended as a one-off event. We would do this relay race one time and that would be it. But it became so popular in its first year that it was clear we needed a successor.

In fact, I think we were oversubscribed by twice the number of participants we had capacity for. So at that time, I thought I've learned so much from putting this first event together. It's been like a mini MBA for me as a 16, 17 year old. Rather than do it myself, why don't we give this opportunity to another cohort of students?

In fact, I think we were oversubscribed by twice the number of participants we had capacity for. So at that time, I thought I've learned so much from putting this first event together. It's been like a mini MBA for me as a 16, 17 year old. Rather than do it myself, why don't we give this opportunity to another cohort of students?

At the time, I just asked people, raise their hands if they wanted to be a director. And sure enough, the first generation of directors took the leadership. Since then, the 24-hour race is a global phenomenon. It's the largest student movement fighting slavery in the world. We're in 25 cities.

At the time, I just asked people, raise their hands if they wanted to be a director. And sure enough, the first generation of directors took the leadership. Since then, the 24-hour race is a global phenomenon. It's the largest student movement fighting slavery in the world. We're in 25 cities.

We've had something like a thousand directors pass through our program and many tens of thousands of runners. And we've probably raised around 150 million Hong Kong dollars to support various anti-trafficking initiatives around the world.

We've had something like a thousand directors pass through our program and many tens of thousands of runners. And we've probably raised around 150 million Hong Kong dollars to support various anti-trafficking initiatives around the world.