Have you spotted this man and his bicycle around Corniche?
Having experienced the horrors of war first-hand, he has devoted all his life to campaigning against violence, even if it means going around the world on a bicycle.
If you have recently spotted a man around Corniche or West Bay areas, riding a custom-built bicycle with flags of Sweden and Qatar sitting on the handle-bar, know that he is not just an ordinary cyclist.
Abdulaziz Abdallah al-Khalidi, an Iraqi-born citizen of Sweden, has travelled more than half the world on two wheels, delivering a message of love, peace and health wherever he stops.
En route Asia, the last leg of his world tour, through Middle East, al-Khalidi recently arrived in Doha from Turkey. He had pedaled from his hometown of Orebro in Sweden to Turkey. From here, he will cycle on to United Arab Emirates and then Muscat in Oman as his final destination in the region.
Sports, in general, and cycling in particular, has been his passion. He then turned it into a mission; to unite the people of the world for peace. And, he says, he has been successful.
“Through my bicycle journeys, I have carried hundreds of messages of love and peace from people in one part of the world to the other. Wherever I have gone, I have found people friendly and welcoming,” al-Khalidi tells Community during a sitting in the hall of Qatar Youth Hostels Association building where he is staying.
Besides helping him promote the healthy activity of sport, cycling around the world has enabled him to directly help people affected by conflict. Coming across people rendered physically impaired by wars, he takes their photographs and connects them with international medical organisations.
Besides meeting important personalities such as the former UN chief Boutros Boutros-Ghali and the former Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, al-Khalidi has established contacts in several international organisations.
“I am not a millionaire. So I help people in the way I best can. I take their photographs and take them to different medical organisations and doctors around the world and ask them to help these people,” says al-Khalidi.
“I work as a bridge between them. I have contacts in organisations such as Human Rights Watch, Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, etc. and I make use of them to help people in need. Last December, I took many such photos from northern Iraq and sent them to these organisations,” he adds.
This Swedish “ambassador of peace” derides conflict and violence. War turned his life upside down once. He had to leave his home in Iraq and never returned to it. In 1980, a young al-Khalidi was a happy student of English Literature and Arts at the Oxford University, London.
He returned home in Iraq for a vacation with his family when war broke out between Iraq and Iran. He got stuck. In his country, they refused to let him return to Oxford to finish his studies.
“It was a big loss. My life was destroyed. I did not want to die for nothing,” recalls al-Khalidi. “So I hid myself and then left the country. After passing through many points in different countries, I finally reached Sweden where they accepted me as a political refugee in 1995,” he recalls.
Sometimes people ask him why has he been cycling around the world and what does he gain out of it. Al- Khalidi says it helps him vent his frustration and anger besides giving him a mission in life.
“I do not like wars. This hatred for violence has always been there with me and sometimes when they ask me why I am doing this (cycling), I feel it is something inside me that I vent out through this sport,” says Al- Khalidi.
He never went back to Iraq except once when they invited him to meet physically-challenged people and children.
al-Khalidi also despises the idea of sitting idle when it is evident there are people suffering from war, disease or poverty somewhere in the world.
In Sweden, and on TV, he saw that sport was a uniting factor for people. It makes people happy and they gather in huge numbers to enjoy it.
“It was fantastic to see (on TV) the freedom and intensity with which people enjoyed watching and taking part in sports. On the other hand, I saw a lot of starvation and illness in other parts of the world. And after seeing this (disparity) I did not want to just sit in a comfortable place as a political refugee and see all that suffering,” explains the cyclist.
He intended to draw the world’s attention towards those people and raise awareness about their problems. He is happy that he has been able to help many.
He got his first bike from a social group in the North of Sweden. “They asked me if I was sure. I said, of course I am. Do I look crazy? They gave me a bicycle and I took my first tour of the three Scandinavian countries before returning home to Sweden,” says the cyclist.
From the initial encouragement, he expanded on his expeditions. So far, he has covered the entire North and South America, Europe and Africa. He stint in Doha is part of a Middle East expedition that will later take him to Asia.
Al-Khalidi says he normally cycles from 9am to 9pm every day during his travels. He has three bikes. One of them was gifted to him by the White House; he had met the secretary of the-then US president, Bill Clinton, who appreciated his work.
The Swedish government, he says, has been really helpful in arranging trips. They have been preparing and sending all his paper work to different countries, saving him huge financial burden.
The GT Bike Company in America also sent him a bike for free and, in Sweden, they made a carriage for it. “It can carry up to 120 kilos in it. I can camp wherever I like. It includes raining, fishing and sports costumes besides other necessities,” says al-Khalidi.
Wherever he goes, people are welcoming. Some even invite him for lunch, dinner or free stays in five-star hotels. “I have not faced any problems at all anywhere in the world and I hope, here in the Gulf, people would show the same hospitality,” he enthuses.
The Swedish authorities, he says, arrange for a prior intimation to the Sweden embassy or authorities in the countries he is about to visit. Therefore, on arriving there, he gets decent media exposure in order to let people of that area know that he is amongst them.
“It makes it easy for me to interact with people. I get to meet a lot of Arab communities living in different countries, for instance, who give me their peace messages. I carry them on to other countries and deliver them to relevant people and organisations,” al-Khalidi explains.
Here in Doha, he was also welcomed by Ewa Polano, Sweden’s Ambassador to Qatar, when he arrived at the embassy a few days ago.
As part of his preparations, al-Khalidi readies himself for one leg of 3-4 countries at a time. It includes physical training and planning for logistics. “But let me tell you, I feel stronger both physically and spiritually as I cycle more,” says the cyclist.
Living with his wife and three children in Orebro, Sweden, al-Khalidi intends to write a book once he is done peddling the world. He would document all his experiences and encounters during his cycle journeys, including his meetings with world leaders, he says, fondly.
