U.S. Department of State Supports Amputee Who is Bicycling Across the United States and Around the World to Help Landmine Survivors and Other Amputees

The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which manages the Department's humanitarian mine action and small arms/light weapons mitigation efforts worldwide, is pleased to be one of the supporters of amputee endurance bicyclist Daniel Sheret's trans-United States and global "Ability Trek 2007" tour. His courageous ride is intended to raise funds that will benefit landmine survivors and other amputees in central Vietnam and southern Iraq. Support from the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement has been effected through a grant to Clear Path International , one of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement's approximately 50 Public-Private Partners in humanitarian mine action. To learn more about this effort, see the related U.S. Department of State press release at www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/may/85832.htm. Also visit the "Ability Trek 2007" website to monitor Sheret's progress on a daily basis and to see a full list of his generous official sponsors.

On Friday, June 1, Daniel Sheret posed near the U.S. Capitol with the bicycle that he is using for his "Ability Trek 2007" tour across the United States, from Washington, DC to San Francisco, California. After reaching San Francisco, he will fly to Singapore and proceed to bicycle through Southeast Asia and elsewhere around the world, returning to the United States in 2008.  

Sheret addresses a CNN reporter and cameraman (not visible in the picture), while being observed by officials from the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, Rotary International, Montgomery Village Rotary Club in Maryland, and the Embassy of Jordan. Sheret will pass through Jordan on his world tour and is scheduled to address Rotarians in Amman, Jordan's capital, in connection with his fund-raising effort to improve the care given to amputees in the Basra area of neighboring Iraq. From left to right: Jim Lawrence, Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement; Stacy Davis, a member of the Office's public Outreach team; Dennis Hadrick, the Office's program manager for Iraq and several other countries who is managing some of the grants that are related to "Ability Trek 2007"; Dan Hutchens, the Office's program manager for Cambodia and Laos who is also a member of the Outreach team; Sheret; Marcus Carpenter, a program analyst with the Office; Linda Smythe from the Montgomery Village Rotary Club; Marlene Thorn with Rotary International; and Samir Naber, First Secretary of Jordan's Embassy to the United States. 

Daniel Sheret (left) and Jim Lawrence (right), Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, jointly pose for CNN and photographers from Agence France Presse and the Associated Press (not pictured), while being interviewed.

Starting from the front of the U.S. Capitol, Dan Sheret begins his epic tour. He will travel solo most of the time and camp in the outdoors, using a small tent and sleeping gear that are packed in the trailer that he is towing behind him. Based on past bicycle tours, Sheret expects that many Americans from all walks of life will open their homes to him as he crosses the United States, so that he may occasionally sleep under a roof and in a comfortable bed after his grueling stages, some of which will exceed 100 miles (160.9 kilometers) a day.

[Photos courtesy of John Stevens, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, U.S. Department of State.]