Islander’s ‘Pedalling for Papua’ campaign reaches the east coast

After giving his 28th performance of riding a bicycle along his 9,000 plus kilometre journey across Canada to raise awareness of human rights issues in West Papua, Jeremy Bally will be leaving Sydney, Nova Soctia, and heading into Newfoundland.

This will bring an end to his current effort, but his trip has been so inspirational he is already planning another one.

As Jeremy's blog suggests: "this campaign has been amazing, and I feel I've reached a lot of Canadians, it is not as good as it could be. It could be so much stronger, now that I have the experience of having done it once. I know what to do better, what mistakes not to make how to work even more effectively towards making West Papua a household topic in Canada. Pedalling for Papua 2013? Yes'm."

As Jeremy's parents, we must acknowledge that we were constantly worried about Jeremy's safety and well being on the road, but this worry was misplaced.

Canada is full of wonderful people and our son was blessed with helpful hands all along his journey. A warm meal brought to him when arriving at a camp site; a passing motorist stopping to help Jeremy as he contemplated an un-fixable tire; people welcoming our son into their homes.the stories we've heard are many and all are remarkable.

So Jeremy's journey has turned into two stories: One about the plight of the indigenous people of West Papua and one about the generosity and caring of Canadians from coast to coast.

We will miss this year's Bowfest (perhaps one of the first that we have missed in over 20 years) because we will be in St. John's to greet our son as he pedals his way into the Atlantic (we think that this literally might be the idea).

Jeremy will be back on Bowen Island on the 26th of August and then off to Bragg Creek, Alberta, for his work with the Easter Seal's Camp which starts on the 31st.

There is no rest for the weary, but there will be time to thank all of those on Bowen who played such an important role in getting his campaign started. We live in a fantastic part of a fantastic country.