Nearly 500 women are using bicycles to deliver a message of peace on a bike ride through Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. Ahmad Mahmoud meets two of them For the fifth successive year, Follow the Women (FTW), an international organisation consisting of nearly 500 women from 40 different countries, are riding bicycles through Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine, in order to deliver a message of peace for an end to violence in the Middle East and to raise money for projects including children's playgrounds and employment opportunities for women in refugee camps. Under the patronage of Syrian First Lady Asma Al-Assad, Queen Rania of Jordan, and Bahia Al-Hariri in Lebanon, the project has expanded each year over the past five years. By promoting bicycles as vehicles of peace and freedom of movement, FTW aims to inspire women to take an active role in building peace in the region. Originally a brainchild of Detta Regan, a youth worker in Berkshire in the UK, who was also named 2001 European Woman of the Year, the idea of the bike ride draws on Regan's background as a fire-fighter and an air-traffic controller, giving her the ability to work under stress, as well as her more recent work as a youth worker. In an e-mail interview, Regan explained to Al-Ahram Weekly how the idea was born. During the last Intifada in Palestine, she had had many conversations with young people in Jericho and Nablus who thought that the international community had forgotten them. Thinking about ways of bringing international media attention to Palestine and promoting the peace process, Regan hit upon the idea of cycling round the region while having dinner with friends from Jordan and Lebanon. Regan wanted to visit Lebanon and Syria, but, being a keen cyclist, she also wanted to ride her bicycle through these countries. When it was pointed out to her that women often do not cycle in the region, Regan thought that women's cycling would be an ideal way of drawing attention to problems in the Middle East. "I thought that maybe we could cycle from Beirut to Jordan, and we could get lots of women to come with us for peace and raise money for Palestine," Regan said. As she spread the word of the bike ride, what had begun as only a half-serious proposal began to take on real form. Through the rides organised by FTW, Regan and her fellow cyclists go to the countries concerned, observe the reality on the ground, and then try to report back to as many people as possible. They also try to act on what they have seen. Regan explains that the rides are quite difficult to describe in words, especially those that take place at 2am, yet, she says, they are an incredible experience that can change lives. They have to be seen to be believed. "As you cycle along with different women all day, you may have an Iranian woman on one side and a Palestinian woman on the other, and then they change to a Danish woman, or an American. The ride flows like that, and conversations vary from serious political issues to girlie chats. You learn so much and you become very close," Regan says. What she realised above all as a result of the FTW bike rides is that preconceptions can be very different from reality. Many of the European and American women taking part in the rides may have read a lot about the region, but actually being there and taking part in the rides is a very different experience and one that can inspire action on the personal, professional and political levels. The experience of the rides over the last five years has proved extraordinary, Regan says, but she admits there is still room for improvement, especially in the UK. "Getting the national media involved is like getting blood out of a stone," she comments. However, there have been notable successes elsewhere in the world: one Japanese woman participated last year, but now they have a team of 12, and Regan is hoping that teams from Africa and China will soon join. Over the past five years, Regan has been able to track the development of the FTW project, which has attracted more countries, more women and more respect. With funds raised as a result of the bike rides, FTW has built two children's playgrounds on the West Bank, and the organisation is planning others in Gaza and in Palestinian refugee camps outside Palestine. Since FTW is a charity, Regan explains that it is sometimes difficult to work efficiently. However, sometimes, she says, "we work through the night to get things done. There are so many committed women who believe that we must do something rather than nothing." The support of Bahia Al-Hariri, Queen Rania of Jordan, and Asma Al-Assad has also added greatly to the message of FTW, Regan says. "We could not do without their support and patronage, since this gives us credibility. It takes all sorts of women to make peace, first ladies and ordinary women working together, and we are a strong team as a result." Moreover, such patronage has proved invaluable in raising funds for FTW's work. "Without the patronage of Mrs Al-Assad and Queen Rania, and without the support of the Palestinian Authority and organisations like the Progressive Youth Union in Lebanon, it would be impossible for us to work," Regan comments. She believes that ways should be found to involve Israeli women who are in favour of peace in FTW's work, if they agree with the need to guarantee the rights of the Palestinians and are against the Israeli occupation. However, Regan also admits that efforts to involve Israeli women have thus far been unsuccessful, despite efforts to do so. A peaceful solution to the region's problems can only be achieved by discussion and negotiation, she says. "Involving Israeli women must be our aim for the future," Regan says, adding that efforts to do so this year have been frustrated by the Israeli invasion of Gaza. "I don't believe we can discuss peace when the wounds of war are so raw," she says. Octavia Taylor, an American woman participating in the ride, also shared her experience with the Weekly. Working for peace and cycling have been parts of her life for the past 40 years, she said in an e-mail interview, and when she was in Jordan some years ago she read a news piece about FTW and has since become the organisation's US coordinator. "I spread the word and was able to put a small team together for the first ride in April 2004. Many people's imaginations were caught by the idea of bicycling for peace using human power, not fossil fuel," Taylor says. This first ride was a very impressive event, she says, since the women on the ride were able to visit the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut and meet with women refugees. They also bicycled through Quneitra and went to the so-called Shouting Hill in the Golan Heights. "I was moved by the experience of seeing the destruction of the Golan Hospital and hearing family members talk to each other after years of not being able to see each other," Taylor says. She says that she has always felt safe on the rides she has undertaken, explaining that all the FTW's sponsors, especially MTN, the leading provider of mobile phone services in Syria, have taken great care to make the rides safe, comfortable and pleasurable for the participants. "Even when the American government has been hostile to the Arab nations, I've always felt personally welcome," she adds. The American team has 13 participants this year, and, as Taylor explains, the ride is a strong commitment for women to make, since airfares from America to the Middle East are not cheap, and taking two weeks out for the ride is not easy since many people have saved them from their vacation time. For these reasons, there are a number of older American women on the team. Taylor is also aware that many people in the United States get their ideas about the Middle East from the mainstream US media, which is often biased. "Because negative reporting is what sells, there is an overabundance of reports of killings and very little news about people's daily lives," she says. "As a result, many Americans, though not all, have a skewed view of people living in the Middle East." Taylor hopes that during her stay she can convey the human side of the Syrians to people back home in America. "Some friends and family were concerned at first, but they understood the importance of the cause. They have been supportive throughout," Taylor adds. Taylor has been involved with the FTW rides from the beginning, and she has been privileged to meet Asma Al-Assad, Queen Rania and Bahia Al-Hariri. "Asma Al-Assad even rode 35km with us a couple of years ago, and last year she invited us to the People's Palace in Damascus. I have been so impressed by the first lady, especially for her commitment to the nation's youth. By enabling the empowerment of Syria's young people, she is unlocking the door to Syria's future development," Taylor says. Taylor was also impressed with Queen Rania of Jordan, who once came to the Syrian-Jordanian border to meet the cyclists and ride with them. "Her work to promote education in Jordan is well respected in America. Also Bahia Al-Hariri welcomed us into her home in Saida during our second ride in September 2005. I remember her strength at a politically sensitive time. Her work as director of the Hariri Foundation and as minister of education has had a great impact in Lebanon." As the women of FTW now take another long bike ride through the Middle East, Regan can't help but remember that many people told her that the idea would not work in the Middle East and that men would reject the idea of women cycling. "But that just made us more determined to do it. In the end, men were giving us flowers and holding out babies for us to kiss as we rode by," she says.
