"On a motorcycle for the refugee," a solidarity project starring Carlos Lameiro with the help of Francisco de la Cruz Cidrás. Supported by Machete Company, La Urbana Bike, 5special, Novalbos, and many others who have individually supported the initiative by contributing their grain of sand. Here is the first-person account from the Great Lameiro of how "On a motorcycle for the refugee" came about and developed:
At the end of March, on a random Sunday, I lay down on my bed, turned on the TV, and there they were—those people who seemed to live in another world, almost science fiction... The refugees. The images and data I was seeing were so brutal that it didn't take long for me to get angry and empathize.
At this point, I was completely poisoned and felt the need to do something to help. Normally, I would have been indignant, turned off the TV, and moved on the next day... But this time it wasn't like that.
Okay, I knew I wanted to help, but if possible, I wanted to enjoy doing it, and if there's one place I enjoy myself like a child, it's sitting, holding handlebars, shifting up and down, snaking along a river of asphalt... So, naming the project was no problem at all.
"On a motorcycle for the refugee," that's what I called this project, and the objectives were clear: to help financially by raising funds for PROEM-AID (an NGO of firefighters who were carrying out thousands of rescues on the island of Lesbos in a totally selfless way) and to help with my own hands wherever it was needed.
Once I developed the idea on a simple digital presentation, I started showing it to my family and friends. I had no idea how they would react, if they would think it was as good an idea as I did, but to my surprise, they thought it was great and joined the project, giving me all their support, even though my parents weren't thrilled about me going on a motorcycle...
Now we had all the tools, so my colleagues and I got to work. The months of April, May, and June were pure madness, between organizing concerts, the biker rally, surf day, popular race... The excitement for the project to succeed and to bring all possible help left no room for tiredness. Little by little, the project grew, as did the fundraising through events and the sale of some t-shirts and bracelets we designed for that purpose.
With so much to organize, we left the trip planning for last, and the truth is, I don't like planning at all; a general idea is enough. We prefer improvisation; this way, experiences that are hard to forget always happen. Until a few days before starting the trip, I didn't know which of my friends would accompany me on this adventure. Finally, only Don Francisco de la Cruz Cidrás, a childhood friend and lifelong gang member, was available. A tough guy, a 4x4, I was glad to know he would come with his indestructible Honda CB 250.
We left home on July 20th, heading for Asturias (Motorbeach), where we stayed for 3 days and managed to raise a lot of money by selling t-shirts. From Asturias, we headed to Salamanca, where our friend Jorge, the organizer of the event in that city, was waiting for us. It consisted of a motorcycle route, concerts, and continued fundraising. It was a great success with many people participating and again, good fundraising for the cause.
The next day, and with our bodies quite tired from so much organization and late nights, the 200 km separating us from Madrid were not easy, and the infernal heat didn't help either, but the enthusiasm and desire to move forward always win. The Madrid event was the last one on our agenda, so we gave it our all, and it yielded very good results, with music and motorcycles in a great atmosphere of supportive people.
We did Madrid-Barcelona in two stages, spending the night halfway, where Joan, a biker we met in Asturias, wanted to help us and hosted us at his house in Calanda. It was a pleasure to meet him, very good people...
Around five in the afternoon the next day, we arrived in Barcelona. We spent little time in this beautiful city, but we enjoyed walking through the center. In Barna, we said goodbye to Spain, and 21 hours on the ferry separated us from Italy. Both Fran and I were thrilled to travel abroad with our motorcycles. The outbound journey went normally; we went straight to our destination, so we didn't stop much for sightseeing; we wanted to arrive and help; that was the main goal.
On August 8th, we arrived at the Vasílica refugee camp near Thessaloniki in northern Greece. The first contact with the refugees was very shocking; it's not the same to hear about it and see it on TV as it is to arrive and see it in person. It is a refugee camp in an old abandoned factory where 1200 people live in tents in very harsh conditions.
Near the refugee camp, a group of independent Catalan volunteers created EKO Project 2. They rented a piece of land where a space has been built for children to play, a school, a kitchen, a library, a women's space... In short, a place to help them escape their reality and help them maintain hope. Fran and I spent two weeks collaborating on this project with construction tasks, playing, and entertaining the children. It has been a tough and rewarding experience where we have met spectacular people, and it makes us very angry that such good, simple, and humble people are going through this... We will continue fighting for them in one way or another until this ends; they deserve much better.
At the end of the two weeks, we started our journey home. We were very far away, but the desire to tell our friends and family what we had seen gave us the strength to return. We passed through spectacular landscapes in both Greece and Italy. Fran was more captivated by Greece, and I by Italy, but both of us would repeat both destinations without hesitation.
Regarding the motorcycles, hats off to the BMW R45 from 5 Special, it held up to everything thrown at it, and the Honda CB did just as well. People were amazed when we told them about our journey. Six days after leaving the refugee camp, we were home with our loved ones. It has been an experience that I will surely repeat.
