 |
|
|
| |
Articles » Peace Ride Coming to Athens |
|
| |
Proverbs 8:35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.Peace Ride Coming to Athens
|
| |
Peace Ride Coming to Athens
The idea of cycling around the world was initiated by a small international group of
cyclists in Athens, Greece, in 1993. During that travel they saw many people suffering
from the war, religious and ethnic oppression, famine and catastrophes, therefore they
decided that every human being could and should do something in his/her country thus
contributing to the good will of the whole world.
The headquarters in Arizona, USA, made a large organisational campaign for the group of
500 people with representation of 2-3 participants from 185 countries of the world to find
coordinators, plan the route through 64 countries, get financial support etc. However, due
to the massiveness of the project and failure to find global sponsors, the idea nearly
failed. However, the Peace Ride started as it was planned and is coming to Athens on 29
July.
The Great Millennium Peace Ride (GMPR) is a UNESCO supported event which now represents 11
riders from 7 countries: three Lithuanians - Sigitas Kucas (physicist, 48 years old),
Edvardas Zizys (economist, 62 years old), Goda Ciplyte (philologist, 32 years old), two
Italians - Carlotta Dall'aglio (secretary, 24 years old) and her friend Piercarlo Marin
(wood artist, 27 years old), two Poles - Slawomir Platek (mechanic of electronics, 21
years old) and Waldemar Grabka (student of management, 26 years old), Oliver Stephan from
Germany (23 years old), a Croatian girl - Ancica Komljenovic (student of physical
training, 27 years old), Manuel Cortes from Mexico (26 years old) and Walter Ramon from
Peru (32 years old).
The riders started the peace mission already a year ago - 6 August 1998 in Seattle (USA)
and plan to finish the project on the 1 January 2000 in Hiroshima, Japan. Representing
different cultures, traditions, beliefs and nations, the Peace Ride is an example of
peaceful cross-cultural coexistence. Bicycle brings the riders close to the people, this
allowing to better understand every culture and pass the message of peace and friendship.
The marathon is an action too to think about the new millennium, to enter it with a hope
for a more safe and better life. The riders carry a symbolical 40 meters long Peace
Banner, in which they invite the people of good will and those who support peace ideas to
write wishes or greetings for the next millennium. The President of the Republic of
Lithuania was the first one to sign the Peace Banner. He wrote - Take the greetings of our
people to every nation you will pass.
One of the goals of the ride is to promote the modern means of communication as a tool
that helps to build democracy and understanding. The group has Latitude - a portable DELL
computer given by the company ARS COMPUTANDI, therefore is able to communicate with the
whole world as well as to send information and photos about their travelling to the Web
site www.peaceride.org created by
"La Generale Multimedia Sud".
The Peace Ride is an open event therefore everybody is welcome for at least short
distance. Since the beginning more than 600 cyclists took part in this challenging
marathon which has made already over 17.000 km through 31 countries of North and South
Americas, Africa and Europe, and is heading for the Middle East. In Europe the ride
visited the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, and joined cycling events in Brussels and
Amsterdam, while in Lithuania the ride was received by the President of the Republic of
Lithuania and the Chairman of the Parliament.
"In Mexico, Peru, Ghana, Poland, Lithuania, Byelorussia we received a lot of
attention - local authorities, journalists and television welcomed us in every town.
However, the most important is the help of common people which we meet every day. It makes
our trip successful", said Sigitas Kucas, the international coordinator. |
| |
|
| 01-03-2021 05:27:07 |
By bicycle around the World
|
Powered by pr.radom.pl Etomite
|
