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"I know what it's like not to be able to express yourself, to have no control over how you're perceived," said Mark Sinke, Event Director for the Hamilton RIDE for Refugees. "A person's dignity needs to be recognized."
Mark gained his unique perspective after participating in three short term mission trips with university student teams. He taught ESL in Japan for 2 years and he worked in northern India with a community health and development initiative.
"Refugees are in a unique place in the world. They have no home. They've been robbed of their identity. They've been forced, sometimes illegally, out of their country. But God cares for the poor and for aliens," he said.
Mark rode 100 km in the Hamilton RIDE for Refugees and was an integral member of the Hamilton RIDE organizing team along with Christine Vaughan and Alison Witt. He also coaches a refugee youth soccer team. Sometimes Mark cooks at Micah House, a temporary shelter for refugees in Hamilton, and he participates in a TrueCity Refugees and New Immigrants Focus Group.
Mark and two friends have organized Love, Sweat + Gears, a 2-week (June 8-21, 2008), 2500 km bike tour of southern Ontario and Montreal that will promote the RIDE for Refugees, raise awareness of the plight of refugees, and present opportunities for Canadians to become involved.
Medical resident Steve Green will ride alongside Mark. Friend Leo Johnson, a Liberian former refugee, will drive the team's support vehicle. After riding a grueling 200 km per day in the Love, Sweat + Gears Bike Tour, their 100 km ride in the October 2008 RIDE for Refugees will seem like a walk in the park.
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