When Anas Cheema arrived in Canada two years ago, he had no idea what he was in store for. In that short time, Cheema has gone to Camosun, transferred to UVic, and, in June of this year, embarked on a cross-Canada cycling trip to raise money for charity.
This, from a guy who didn’t even own a bike before now.
“I’ve never really cycled before,” he admits. “I’ve never had a bicycle before. I just wanted to challenge myself, and especially for the charity. I’ve always wanted to do something like this, running or motorbiking, but then I thought cycling was a lot more realistic.”
The charity that Cheema, who attended Camosun in 2012 taking general courses to transfer to UVic, is raising money for ($5,000 at press time; his goal is $10,000) is SOS Children’s Villages, who, says Cheema, are the “world’s largest organization working for orphaned, abandoned, and abused children. They support 85,000 children in 133 countries worldwide.”
His passion talking about the organization makes sense, given his history with it. After Pakistan was hit with an earthquake in 2007, Cheema volunteered to work with SOS doing fundraising at his school and delivering items to children.
“That experience was what got me started and motivated me to do more,” he says. “All the children rely on donations and help from the community, so when you go there and take the donations and food and clothes, they were really happy and excited to see us. I saw firsthand what it was like there, and I wanted to do something for those kids.”
And the organization is happy to have Cheema spreading the word. SOS Children’s Villages Canada communication manager Graeme Burk says that Cheema is “wonderfully surprising.”
“He started out in Victoria hardly ever having ridden a bike and he’s continued across the country, spreading the word about SOS Children’s Villages wherever he goes,” says Burk. “We’re delighted with how he’s connected with Canadians and provided them with the means to look outside themselves to the needs of others abroad.”
Cheema says that motivation to do the cycling trip hit him when he got to thinking how many people talk about their future plans and what they hope to do “someday.”
“There was this thing in my mindŃ‘There is no someday.’ We all keep planning to do this, and, ‘Someday I’ll do this.’ But there’s only today,” he says. “We have to go and get started, and things will work out.”
And, indeed, his trip has so far worked out, despite hitting a very serious snag in Winnipeg. Cheema left his bike and belongings unattended while he went into a restaurant, and someone made off with them. Bike company Cannondale donated a new bike to his cause and UVic helped him pay for his other belongings.
The resulting media attention helped him raise $2,000 while he was in Winnipeg for SOS.
“Even with my bike being stolen, I was for sure upset at first, but I knew that I was determined, I knew I was not going to quit, I was going to continue,” he says. “I knew even if I had to stand with a jar asking people for moneyÉ I didn’t contact any media. The police sent out a media release and then I had all these people calling me.”
Cheema, who has been averaging 150 to 200 kilometres a day, says that the whole experience has been extremely satisfying, and adds that doing something with other people in mind is something he’s very happy about.
“With careers and studying and everything, I feel like everything we do in our lives, there’s some sort of self-motivation behind it,” he says. “But this one thing I wanted to do purely not for myself, so 20 to 30 years from now I can look back and be proud of myself for something I did. I made a difference in the world because of my existence here.”
Cheema’s end destination is St. John’s, Newfoundland, at which point he’ll turn around and start cycling back to get home for the start of his classes at UVic in September.
But Cheema will return a new man, with a new understanding of self… and with huge calf muscles to boot.
“I’m really happy,” he says. “Every night I sleep with satisfaction, knowing that I’m making a difference out there.”