Australia: Young Falun Gong Practitioners Hold Van Tour to Raise Awareness about the Persecution

On January 22nd, 2007, ten young Falun Gong practitioners and an adult practitioner started a six-day van tour from Sydney to Broken Hill, Australia. Young practitioners hoped that the van tour would raise awareness about the children in China who lost their parents during the persecution of Falun Gong. Many newspaper, TV stations and radio stations interviewed the group and reported on the van tour.

One of the media reports

The young practitioners visited three cities on each of the six days. These young practitioners planned everything by themselves, including contacting the media, and making appointments with the government officials. It was a serious test for these young practitioners. Before the van tour started, they faced many difficulties. Despite all of the hardship, they remained determined to accomplish their mission.Due to their sincerity, the van tour touched many people. The ten young practitioners split into two groups. One was in charge of talking to government officials and the other one was in charge of contacting the media. Both groups were very successful. All the mayors and city council members were very supportive and willing to help them in their efforts to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. The media-group visited almost all the media along the tour, and all the media interviewed them and reported on the van tour.

During the one-week van tour in the hot summer, young practitioners improved their xinxing and learned how to forbear.

Eric Nugent, one of the young practitioners, said, "We had to learn how to forbear in order to complete this van tour. We had to cooperate with each other to make plans. One of the xinxing tests was to eliminate the attachment to comfort. During that week, we had to give up the comfortable lives that we are used to. We had to endure many hardships, such as hot weather and mosquitoes. We were short of money and food. Sometimes, we didn't have enough time to have breakfast. Also we didn't have the entertainment that we had at home."

Eric also said, "Through this van tour, we learned how to cooperate with each other as one body. We also learned more about each other. So now we are better friends."