The Audacity of Hope
4 guys cycle 2,700km in 20 days #ZoeChallenge
A year ago I pitched what I now realise was a crazy idea to my staff. I’d cycle from Latvia back to the UK, tracing the route of a girl who was trafficked into our country for the purposes of sexual exploitation. She was raped for profit. She was forgotten by society. Her name was Zoe.
The end of human trafficking in our nation, in our lifetime.
We founded Hope for Justice to rescue girls like Zoe. In almost 5 years we’ve grown into an organisation that removes victims from all types of modern day slavery. It’s a privilege to get off the sidelines and play our part in combating such a wide-scale social injustice.Yet everyday I’m reminded - there are so many other ‘Zoes’, so many more to reach.
This is a movement of hope, a hope more audacious than the brazen inhumanity of slavery.
It’s because of our fierce belief that we can be that great generation that abolishes slavery,that I am sat in a Lithuanian hotel at the end of Day 1 of what has come to be known as the Zoe Challenge. There are 18 days and 2,622km of cycling ahead and over the next few weeks i’ll be sharing about our journey.
This is a road trip not to be missed, I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
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We always knew it was going to be a tough day. - TOM LISTER
Let me introduce you to Tom, Tom is a British treasure, long-time star of stage and screen and all-round great guy. We’ve been friends for a few years and when he heard about the Zoe Challenge he volunteered himself as Team Leader and didn’t look back. For that alone I wanted to give him the floor for his thoughts on Day 1:
Wow. My initial impression is that while Riga was affluent just a few miles out into the Latvian countryside and you can soon see why people are looking for a new start in another country. Cobbled roads lined with ramshackle buildings make great scenery for cyclists but tell a story of hard times shared by many. Passing by, it’s been easy to imagine what high hopes Zoe must have had for her new start in the UK. It only makes it all the more crushing to know how she was manipulated and abused all out of her trafficker’s greed. The thought of reaching more girls like her as fast as possible and one day deterring traffickers from recruiting them in the first place will be enough to keep me pedalling.
To keep up with our adventures on the road follow @Hopeforjustice on Twitter and @hopeforjustice_ on Intagram.
