Untitled Document
 Everyone
dreams of traveling around the world. Visiting other countries is
a lot of fun. You can enjoy different food, culture, and meet new
people. In fact, there are so many countries to visit in the world.
Therefore, some think it is impossible to visit every single country
in the world. We usually visit other countries by airplane. Sometimes
we can even cross the border by car or train. But an amazing man from
Canada visited 64 countries on foot!
Jean Beliveau from Quebec started a long journey to celebrate his
45th birthday. He said he wanted to do something special in his life.
“My daily life was boring and I was looking for a change in my life.
I wanted to do something crazy and special. I asked myself, ‘What
will I do with my life before I die?’ Then, I came up with an idea
of walking around the world,” he explained about his special journey.
“I also wanted to walk around the world to raise awareness about children
facing violence and conflict.”
He left Montreal in August, 2000 on his 45th birthday. Over the last
11 years, he walked nearly 76,000 kilometers in six continents! He
visited a total of 64 countries so far. Last Sunday, Mr. Beliveau
arrived in Vancouver from New Zealand to begin the final Canadian
leg of his journey. There, he was welcomed by his long-lost family,
friends, and supporters. He plans to start the 5,400-kilometer trek
to Montreal soon. He expects to arrive in Montreal in October to end
his long journey.
He met thousands of people along the way, while he was away from his
wife and two children. He missed the birth of his two grandchildren.
Beliveau couldn’t even attend his father’s funeral in 2006 because
he was in Belgium.
“Of course it was not easy to walk around the world for 11 years and
I had some hard times. Sometimes I really wanted to give up. For example,
when I was walking in Africa, I called my wife and said, ‘I want to
go home.’ She said, ‘We love you and you are welcome home, but you’ve
made too much progress. You need to go farther.’ Thanks to her support,
I didn’t give up and kept on going,” said Mr. Beliveau.
During his journey, many sponsors supported him. Sometimes he slept
in churches and even jails. He even spent one night in a cemetery!
He has already gone through about 50 pairs of shoes. He predicts that
he will wear out half a dozen more before he finishes his journey.
Let’s hope he will finish his meaningful journey safely! |
|
|
|
