Julius N. Uma
21 December 2011
Juba — He speaks with relative calm and carries a clear message. That is a person who can also contribute to world peace and a sustainable environment through cycling.
For Nepalese cyclist Furtemba Sherpa, no place is better than a world where people live in peaceful and good environment.
“At age 10, I ran away from home and made a treacherous journey to the capital city [of Nepal], Kathmandu. Leaving home meant one less mouth for my parents to feed. In the city, I had planned to find a work and send money to help my parents feed and raise my six siblings,” he narrates, two days ago before to leave Juba heading to Kampala.
But faced with hardships and homelessness, Sherpa says he had no choice rather than to adopt and develop instincts and skills to survive in the bustling city.
“I started washing dishes in restaurants and did odd manual jobs,” he recalls. But having discovered his real entrepreneurial strength years later, Sherpa owned a restaurant and clothing store.
On December 25, 2003, the Nepalese lad opted to leave home and start his passionate journey of pedaling around the world to promote peace and created awareness of the environmental issues around the universe.
“Cycling is my foremost passion and I have been cycling around the world since 2003 advocating for peace and environmental protection,” the 31-year old cyclist told Sudan Tribune.
Through cycling, Sherpa intends to encourage the use of bicycles instead of automobiles, which are not only costly, but also a menace to the environment in which we live.
The Nepalese biker’s goal is to visit 151 countries in the world by 2020. To-date, however, he has visited 77 countries, covering over 81,765km in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, Caribbean, Central and South America as well as African.
“I hope I have inspired people whom I have met to think that there are practical alternatives like cycling to our modern lifestyles,” he confidently says, adding that, “We should all live in a social harmony and with great cohesion.”
As part of his advocacy, Sherpa engages non-governmental organizations, individuals and community leaders, identify notable problems at stake and devise remedies deemed fit for addressing them.
In one of the files, the Nepalese carries along contained several appreciation letters, accolades and acknowledgment documents mainly from various city mayors, the Australian government and the European Union commission.
On peace prospects in South Sudan; the 77th country he visited, Sherpa urged leaders in Africa’s newest nation to champion preach peace and unity among the population after decades of the bloody civil war.
Meanwhile the renowned biker has so far toured Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Egypt and Ethiopia, with Rwanda as his next destination.
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