Syria’s women hop on climate-friendly bikes

KATOWICE: Two years after Syria’s war began, Sarah Zein found the daily drive to her university classes in Damascus becoming impossible.

HEAVY trafic AND mushrooming Checkpoints meant THE 15-minute Journey now took close to an hour. So Zein did something daring: She pulled her childhood bicycle out of storage.

In Syria, a society where taboos about women riding bikes remain strong..., SAID THE 24-year-old.

That meant her ride to university was far quicker, but no fun.

“I wasn’t expecting the astonishment of bystanders and the sexual harassment,” Zein recalled. “Men yelled, ‘I wish I could be your bicycle seat’. I went home crying.” To begin with, she did not think she would try again. But, in THE END, SHE DID — At irst with A male fellow student and gradually with other women as well. “I realised if I give up, and everyone gives up, who will do the change? It’s our responsibility,” she said on the sidelines of UN climate talks in Poland.

“I don’t like the idea that women are victims. We should take action. We should do something about it. We have to protect our rights,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Zein now leads “Yalla Let’s Bike”, a social movement that has helped get more than 4,000 women cycling on the streets of Syria’s capital.

Working with the Damascus governor, the group has pushed through the installation of 10 km (6 miles) of bicycle lanes in the city, which previously had none, as well as new bike parks.

It has also led training for women, with 32 female instructors now teaching others to ride.

The movement has organised mass bike rides for both men and women that have attracted up to 1,000 people, including one through the streets of BATTLE-SCARRED Homs.

The cycling drive is helping cut planet-warming Emissions In THE CROWDED Syrian capital by getting more people out of cars, while opening up new freedoms for women, Zein said.

It is also a bright spot in a nation dragged down by nearly eight years of Conlict AND Destruction.

“There are people out there trying to do something (positive),” said the young cyclist.

Zein’s work has been recognised by the UN “Momentum for Change” initiative, which showcases novel solutions to tackling climate change by communities, cities, companies and others.