Man cycles round London in coronary heart form for Refugee Week
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bicycle owner has ridden his bike round London within the form of a coronary heart to lift consciousness for Refugee Week and advocate for a “kinder” coverage in the direction of refugees.
Tom Hashemi, 35, mapped out his route prematurely earlier than embarking on the “hot, busy, trafficky” three-hour journey across the metropolis.
Speaking to the PA news company after his journey, Mr Hashemi stated the problem was “fun”, including: “The hard bit with doing these rides is London’s roads.
“You have to try and find how you can actually make the shape because, obviously, there is no road around London drawn in the shape of a heart, so you have to piece together all these really small roads.”
The journey amounted to 42 miles and took him to Crystal Palace, Hampstead Heath, close to the Olympic Park and on to the London cable automobile.
After his cycle, he tweeted: “Drew a heart around London with my bike this morning to mark the start of #RefugeeWeek23 with @FreefromTorture – because we can do more. #GPSArt.”
Mr Hashemi has beforehand ridden round London within the form of Ukraine, impressed by American road artist Lenny Maughan, who makes use of his GPS tracker to attract pictures as he runs.
Before that, Mr Hashemi rode from London to Lviv in western Ukraine throughout April and May to lift cash to assist clear landmines within the nation.
Mr Hashemi is the chief government of public relations agency Cast From Clay, which has places of work in London and Lviv, which means Mr Hashemi has mates and colleagues within the war-torn nation.
He stated of Refugee Week: “I think it’s important to bring that narrative back, of like, yes, Ukraine matters and I care deeply about Ukraine and Ukrainians, but there are other people in the world that could do with help and we’re fortunate to be in a place where we can offer it.
“We can have a policy towards refugees that can be kinder than what it is today and if we do that, there are benefits to the UK in the long run.”
Mr Hashemi stated the concept to cycle for Refugee Week happened throughout a dialogue with Sonya Sceats, chief government of a British charity offering remedy and assist to survivors of torture.
He stated: “I was talking to Sonya, who is the CEO of Freedom From Torture, and she was like, ‘Why don’t you draw a heart round London? It’s Refugee Week. It’s a symbol of the week. It would be really cool and help you draw attention to what’s happening and to discussion’.
“I think one of the things that Ukraine has shown us is that, as a country, when we want to do something when it comes to refugees, we can do it.
“I think people like Freedom From Torture do a really important role in that they try and convince us that we should do that more often.
“Every time I go to Ukraine, people speak very highly of the UK, not just because we send them lots of weapons, but also because of how we’ve dealt with humanitarian aid and humanitarian support.
“We are able to build that reputation in more places than just Ukraine by adopting a kind, sensible, pragmatic approach to refugees as opposed to the kind of less kind approach that we’ve seen over the last few years.”