For one member of Ride2Freedom, the 3,000 mile journey has strengthened her resolve to put others first. Annie Chen of Troy, Michigan is 19 years old, and she is leading a team of young cyclists from Los Angeles to Washington to New York. Ultimately, they intend to rescue Falun Gong orphans in China. They intend to stop a human rights crisis that started on July 20, 1999.
Annie said she grew up knowing about the persecution of Falun Gong in China, and had never before had a chance to do something about it directly. She condemns the injustice in China: “If somehow I was born in China … then I would be in their shoes and I would be expelled from school, and I could possibly be orphaned and I wouldn’t be able to express my beliefs freely. It’s not fair at all that someone just like me in China who practices Falun Gong or has a belief in a faith is being persecuted just because she doesn’t live in the United States but lives in communist China.”
