Pedal for Peace: Journey towards Change and Hope

Pedal for Peace Team: Mohsin Saadat, Laeeq Ahmad, Natheer Moaid, Zain Sadullah, Mohsin Ejaz, Imran Khan and Abdul Basit

After seeing the destruction floods had caused last year and working to provide solutions factually every day till December 2010, life came to a pause, for a while. I was working for a UK based charity then and rescue and relief work was an everyday job. That pause proved to be the catalyst which gave birth to Pedal for Peace. It took me out of the oblivions of the world I was living in and trying to serve. It took me to the one which really mattered – the world where only I existed with The One who reins my life.

That little pause in my life taught me once again, if I had not heard it before, that change begins from within and would not reproduce in the outside world until the process is completed successfully within. I came back to Pakistan three years back after spending 23 years in UAE, the country where I was born in. After going through some hardships and being deprived of some basic fundamental rights in my birth country, I knew the ultimate goal of my life was to help those who I can with my time and resources; seeing someone suffering was too challenging to eyewitness anymore. In the process, I learnt humility is the key to success which eventually eliminated “I” and all what I was ever blessed with or later on was a blessing and a push forward by Allah towards the purpose of life He has decided for me to execute. But, I am no superman and I do get indulged in the materialistic world on and off which tries to plug me into a world of deceit and selfishness, reluctantly and unconsciously.

I was fortunate to get a full time job in the non-profit sector as soon as I came back which provided me the opportunity to serve and interact with thousands of people deprived due to the socio-economic situation, man-made and natural disasters. After observing the situation for more than two and a half years I realized it was not tents, clean water, food, shelters and livelihood which people needed. Peace was the ultimate need and demand; the things mentioned above were just the means to keep them alive to see their dream materialize and to become manifest.

As soon as I came out of the pause, I knew that if I want to achieve something for myself and for the people I have to care for, it just could not be a materialistic desire, it had to be a need and I knew that peace was the ultimate need. So, I decided that I would cycle from Islamabad to Lahore to kick start the change process. It was very tough in the beginning as nobody was ready to support, especially emotionally. There was a solid resistance at my home, especially from the side of my mother, my ultimate strength.

But, eventually, things started to roll. I started to discuss the idea with friends and organizations I knew. They wanted to become a part of it and wanted to pedal for peace; the idea just clicked with everyone right away. As of today, we have 4 non-profit organizations - Akhuwat, Taaleem Foundation, Essakhel Foundation & Human Relief Foundation - supporting Pedal for Peace to achieve what it has set out for. Seven more cyclists have joined this activity and the way the number is increasing, I am not sure how many would be there in the first week of January 2012 when we will set out from Faisal Masjid towards Minar-e-Pakistan. My family and especially my mother has now become a staunch supporter, she knows what it means to me and the rest.

Through our activity, we want to support those causes which we consider necessary in uplifting our community from the dearth of everything which is required to live our lives with sanity. Firstly, we want to support the education and basic needs of 25 orphans for a year at least. Secondly, to promote the need of health centers in rural areas, we are asking people to support in order to make an eye hospital in the deprived sub district of Isakhel in Mianwali.  Moreover, we want to revolutionize the education system in Pakistan, especially in Balochistan where literacy rate hovers around 48%. We want to build e-learning centers and libraries in districts engulfed with unrest and crises, such as Mastung, Dera Bugti, Kohlu, Pishin, Loralai, Zhob and Killa Saifullah. These steps are small and just might help three to four thousand people; but our intention is to make everyone realize that such steps have to be taken by the fortunate on a much larger scale regularly to make lives peaceful for those who are less fortunate.

The cyclists will go through a lot of challenges; from cold weather and security issues to health concerns and injuries, to name a few. But, what matters is the intention we all have set ourselves out for i.e. to achieve serenity within us so that we are able to witness the same outside, one day. Let the change begin.