A historical trip for Humanity

     (PNAN) – Albert Schweitzer {1875-1965} Humanitarian, 1952 Nobel Peace Prize once said, “One other thing stirs me when I look back at my youthful days, the fact that so many people gave me something or were something to me without knowing it.” It is my belief that brothers, Matt and Andy Friedlund, and Morgan Jones will always be aware of Dr. Schweitzer’s words in their present life travels, including their trek across 13 states, over 4,000 miles by bicycle that took 72 days, and then on Tuesday, August 10 at 6:30 pm, the view of the Pacific Ocean.

    Their mission was to raise funds to have a well built in Marale, a small African village. “I didn’t quite expect to raise as much money as we did. I’ve been pretty amazed at the generosity of others along the way,” said Matt. Their trip, “Ride for Marale” who was titled by Andy, initially sought the approval of “Food for the Hungry”. The rest began the young men’s cross-country historical trip that netted nearly $13k for this international relief organization, going toward the construction of not one, but a total of three clean water systems in different villages.

     “I hadn’t shared life with anyone else that closely before. I’m generally a pretty independent person. I’d never had to eat when someone else wanted to eat or sleep when someone else wanted to sleep before,” said Andy. “I learned a lot about what it means to compromise and what it means to consider other people.”    

     Throughout their travels, each wrote about their experiences. “I kind of went into with the idea that I was going to see America and that we were going to do as much as we could to raise money for people in Marale and such, and we did that.”  In fact, they even learned how to throw Tomahawks in the Buckeye, capture photos and make videos of such places as, Grand Teton National Park, Mount Rushmore, and even a forest fire.

     There is much more and I would rather you feel the joy as I did by logging onto: www.ridemarale.blogspot.com. Amazing does not even come close to describe Matt, Andy and Morgan’s travels for humanity, but what I do know that is much far greater, regardless for them or anyone who steps up to the plate: It is not about gaining “Hollywood” recognition; moreover, in the words once said by Poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850): “The best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.”

By Ben Rayman