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Bjørn Heidenstrøm, from Oslo visited the Costa del Sol area last month, as part of the global journey, which he is undertaking by bicycle and hitch-hiking, to raise awareness of, and funds for the plight of refugees.
Bjørn, a football fan, is a supporter of Liverpool F.C., and Valerenga in Norway where he works as a Marketing Manager. He describes himself as 41 and usually normal!

So far he has travelled 6,000 miles, collecting signed football shirts which will be sewn together to create a flag to be flown at the 2010 World Cup, as a symbol of unity and passion for both football and the plight of refugees. As Bjørn says, the flag will symbolise the “football family standing together and not forgetting the small ones”

Over 500 hundred T-shirts have been donated, with more coming in all the time, and Bjørn wishes to express his thanks to all those who have contributed to this collection.

Bjørn said his involvement in the refugee situation was sparked by his children in Norway, who highlighted the issue and asked him what he was going to do about it!
“Many African countries are wrecked by war, famine, poverty and corruption, but there are refugees all over the world, and they are the forgotten people. My project is to put the challenge faced by 45 million refugees worldwide into the spotlight.”

Keith Spitalnick presents Bjørn with a Currencies Direct shirt

Bjørn said that last week, Sweden had announced more support for refugees, and he hoped the result would be that other countries follow suit.

Bjørn has more than 15,000 kilometres, and six months of cycling ahead of him and his journey will end in South Africa. We wish him well on his journey.

Here is a list of the countries Bjørn will pass through. There will be ferry and boat trips. The bike is used in Europe and mostly hiking in Africa:

Norway (20 June 2009, the “world refugee day”), Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kaleningrad, Poland, Denmark, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Portugal, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Croatia, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa (Spring 2010)

More information can be found on the Norwegian Refugee Council website at www.nrc.no and donations can be made via the website www.theshirt2010.net

Bjørn with British Chamber of Commerce in Spain

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