Two Romanians start cycling trip around Europe for charity

Alex M. Alexandrescu and Silviu Chirila, two young Romanians who are living in UK, have found a new way to support the education of disadvantaged children in Romania. They started a cycling trip of some 3,000 km around Europe to encourage children from two family homes of the FARA Charity in Romania to continue their studies. They began their trip on Saturday, April 29, from the British Parliament in London, and plan to end it in June, when they will arrive at the Romanian Parliament in Bucharest. These days they are in Belgium, heading to the Netherlands. The route includes cities such as Bruges, Rotterdam, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Timisoara, Craiova, and Bucharest. Alex and Silviu also raised more than GBP 2,000 so far via a crowdfunding campaign. The trip is entirely self-funded, with all the money coming from donations going to local FARA Charity. “We strongly believe that education is a prerequisite to unity and agreement in our communities, countries and continents, fostering cultures in which differences are celebrated and opinions debated, rather than despised and discriminated. The common ground we all share is a mutual acceptance of truth, and ensuring education for the youth is key to building and consolidating the fabric of truth,” reads the presentation on the fundraising web page. Alexandru M. Alexandrescu has been living in the UK since 2011, when he began his studies at the University of Manchester. He got his Master degree in Economic Analysis and Strategy in December and has recently founded a startup with three of his friends. Silviu Chirila has studied at the University of Southampton, and is now working as programmer for McLaren. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com