SOS Journey Through the Midlands of Ireland Part 1

Falun Gong Activities in Athlone Town
(SOS Journey through midlands of Ireland)

First I travelled to Athlone and placed leaflets in the local shops and restaurants. In one local Chinese restaurant the staff including 2 chefs came out to talk with me. They were very curious about Falun Gong., They told me they did not want to practise Falun Gong but they respected us and thought what we were doing was good. That night I met with a little difficultly when looking for a hostel. I travelled both sides of the town and visited six or seven hostels before I found one with a room free. I told the landlord about the persecution and the route I planned on travelling and he wished me the best of luck.

The following morning I went to breakfast and met a couple of people staying in the hostel. They were very kind and gave me all the information they knew about the area. When I asked about additional information about the local government ministers, they rang their friends to help me. For about 10 minutes we talked about Zhao Ming and the persecution in China. After this I wanted to go and meet a fellow practitioner who would walk with me. The landlord said he would only charge me £15 instead of £25 because I was trying to do something good. I told him when I return home I will write an article describing his kindness and his kindness will give strength to the people in China who are suffering so much under the persecution. When he heard this he said the room only cost £10.

I met another practitioner at the train station and we gave press packs to the local media, some of which said they would write an article for their next issue. We then travelled to the county council (local government buildings) offices. The secretary told us that there were no councillors (local government officials) in the building but that she would try to contact them. This lady spent over half an hour on the phone trying to get someone to talk to us, some were in a meeting and some were travelling to another city. This kind lady didn't stop trying and finally she managed to get the chairperson of the county council (Mr. Egbert Moran) to meet us, the highest-ranking official in this town. We talked to the chairperson for some time and he said he would do what he could to help after he read through the materials. We then placed Zhuan Falun [the main book of Falun Gong] in the local library, asked about having a Falun Dafa exhibition and started off for the next town.

Spreading Falun Gong in Roscommon Town and Surrounding Villages

After walking for a short time a local man called John Doil offered us a lift because the next town was 20 miles away with very few towns in between, consequently we accepted. Originally he told us he was only travelling a few miles in our direction but ended up driving us the whole distance. Again we handed out leaflets and put them in the shops and restaurants.

The following day we started to spread the truth in Roscommon town, a small town in the midlands of Ireland. We visited a local newspaper and then met the secretary of a high ranking national government minister (I had met him before and demonstrated the exercises to him). The secretary told us that he was not in town at the moment but she would do all she could to make the minister aware of the awful situation. She then told us how to find a local county councillor who had a business in town. When we went there his secretary told us he was on the phone so when we were waiting we told the secretary about Falun Gong and the persecution the practitioners in China were currently enduring. We then met the councillor, he had a kind face and talked with us for some time. He said he would do what he could after he read the materials.

We then set off on our journey to the next town. After walking 6-7 kilometres a car stopped, it was the local councillor we had met earlier, he said he was going this way and would give us a lift. He said he knew the chairman of the county council and would drop us to his business. This man was called Adrian Farrel and he went out of his way to use the resources at his disposal to help us. First he said he would pass a resolution before the local government supporting our efforts to secure spiritual freedom for our fellow practitioners who are currently suffering abuses of their human rights in China. If passed this would then be sent to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. We talked for a while and then he phoned his friend (who was a taxi driver) and asked him to drive us to Longford and to the business of the Chairperson of Longford county council which was 20 miles away. When we reached our destination we tried to pay the man, he refused and instead asked us for a handful of leaflets to give to his friends.