Spreading the gospel on bicycles made for three
View(s):Three cyclists attached to the Bangladesh Scout Movement — Abul Hossain, Rubel Hossain and Zakir Mollah are in Sri Lanka as part of their world tour campaign against HIV/AIDS and Climate Changing. These three cyclists have visited many countries around the globe and they arrived in Sri Lanka from Chennai, India on December 25, 2012 and will ride around the country spreading their gospel before leaving for Maldives on January 9.
The trio kicked off their campaign from the International Mother Language Monument in Dhaka en route India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, South Korea, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and Papua New Guinea before returning to Bangladesh by June to embark a second phase of the tour.
During their travelling around in cycles Abul, Rubel and Zakir hope to meet the local residents, philanthropic organizations, non governmental organisations and media institutions in conveying their message.
Abul Hossain, Rubel Hossain and Zakir Mollah in Colombo.
“We don’t want to see the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people suffer more. So we are carrying the message of combating against HIV/AIDS, save environment, save life and spread the theme around,” said Abul.
During the duration of 15 days in Sri Lanka, the Bangladeshi trio will cover most parts of the island with the strong support of Bangladesh High Commission in Colombo. The cyclists set off to Anuradhapura last Thursday (3) and they will tour around Sri Lanka for 15 days before leaving for Maldives.
However this is not the first occasion that Abul, Rubel and Zakir did a world tour in bicycles. Way back in 1998 Abul, Zakir and Rahman Khan did a similar world cycle tour under a different theme, supporting for a ‘landmine free peaceful world’. In 1998 the then students set off from Bangladesh and covered Nepal, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Germany and Switzerland under the tagline ‘we solicit landmine free peaceful world’. Today, nearly 15 years later Abul and Rubel remain in the campaign and are joined by Zakir who is also a keen social worker.
“Riding on a bicycle will get us better possibility of meeting a larger number of people on and off the road. For instant, if we travel through Colombo, we can paddle for around six hours a day and if only two persons come to contact in an hour, we are spreading the message towards 12 persons in a day. In bicycles we will be able to reach rural areas where vehicles are inaccessible and that will give us better access to spread the news around. We believe our cause will receive the support from the Sri Lankans,” Abul added. – NA
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