By Effrey Dademo

One issue that rarely gets the prominence in the Papua New Guinea media is the struggle by West Papuans for recognition of their territory – West Papua.  Although Papua New Guinea is very close to the struggle, having dealt with the influx of thousands of refugees across the border, the silence on the part of the Papua New Guinea government and it’s people, to atrocities and blatant abuse of human rights of our “wantoks” is deafening!

On Independence Day, celebrations by small west Papuan groups in certain parts of the country, attempted to bring the issue to the forefront and give it the prominence it rightfully deserves. How many of us took notice of this?

One such act of awareness on one far-flung corner of the globe was the LONDON to BARCELONA FOR WEST PAPUA and WEST BANK Pedalin initiated by two young brave SOAS University girls of PNG and Japanese parentage, based in London.

While Papua New Guineans celebrated our nation’s 36^th birthday, to the sounds of kundu drums, garamut, and corn shell, KEIKO and sister HIDEKO ONO (pictured) cycled into Barcelona, Spain after, a 2 weeks of self-funded and grueling pedalin, with 5 bicycle buddies, through 3 countries and almost 10,000 miles.

On September 2, 2011, Keiko and Hideko Ono, ages 21 and 20 respectively, initiated THE LONDON TO BARCELONA FOR WEST PAPUA AND WEST BANK Pedalin to give prominence to the plight of Freedom Fighters all over the world with special focus on West Papua. Their aim was to enter Barcelona on PNG’s Independence long weekend with a message of peace and freedom.  And they did just that.

While making their a their final leg of the journey into Barcelona Spain, Keiko wrote ACT NOW! : “…We are about 20km away from Barcelona, will send a pic of us straight away when we do though!....:) speak soon…”

" I am proud and satisfied the girls have done their bit to “push the boundries and make people sit up and listen”, their delighted mum, Mrs Nancy Ono said, speaking from her current home in Lusaka, Zambia.  Mrs Ono who hails from Misima, in the Milne Bay Province is married to Masayoshi Ono, JICA’s Chief advisor to the Zambian Government’s Ministry of Agriculture. The couple are keen followers of ACT NOW work.

With it’s limited resources ACT NOW has been supporting free West Papua campaign by various pressure groups, using our various social network sites, and encouraging Papua New Guineans to stand up and take action for change, in their own ways.

Our heartfelt gratitude and thanks, on behalf of those involved in attempts to seek justice for this cause, goes out to Hideko and Keiko Ono, for pioneering the way. For being the example and setting an stage for more new generation of Papua New Guineans to attempt to push the boundaries on various causes for the advancement of humanity.