A 23-year-old Chinese-American girl, better known as the Bladress, is on a Cross Country tour of the United States, on Rollerblades, to break the Guinness World record for distance skating, while spreading her message of love and positivity. Yanise Ho who was born in Hong Kong in 1995, is pushing to raise funds to educate girls in Kenya and Uganda.
Ms. Ho who started travelling at 16, is driven on this quest by her desire to show that the world is filled with love and kindness. She grew up as a special girl different from many of her peers, she studied in a high school in Rome, Italy, and attended three different universities in Washington State, California, and New York. She obtained a degree in journalism from the University of Massachusetts..
Yanise Ho has been “on the road” since she was sixteen. She began her career as a backpacker at the age of 20 and traveled throughout Central America, Europe, and Canada. She was determined to travel around the United States on rollerblades at the age of 21.
Her journey aims to prove to the world the kindness and belief of human nature. She believes that as long as there is love and trust, people will be closely connected, regardless of their background or skin color.
She also wants to use her own experiences to encourage more women to pursue and realize their dreams. “If I, such a common woman, can achieve a thing that others believe is difficult, then anyone will be able to make their dream come true.”
While on her journey, she has been raising educational funding for girls in Kenya and Uganda, donating it through the non-profit organization ‘One Girl Can’.
“Education according to her can help women improve their abilities and pursue empowerment. This will help them fight against child marriage, human trafficking, violence, sexual abuse and get access to educational opportunities so as to change their fate.”
The idea of awakening human belief by inline skating occurred to her in 2016 when she was not able to skate. Carrying her first pair of roller-skates, she flew to Canada to learn and practice skating. After a lot of hard work and failures, she finally grasped the technique after several months. Many years of experience of traveling herself means she doesn’t feel the need to read any guidebooks prior to her trips. Yanise reiterated that she refused to be affected by any ideas or notions before she arrives in a new place.
This trip started in Miami then goes via New York and ends in Los Angeles. She is skating between 20 and 30 miles each day, sometimes even up to 47 miles. It is expected to take six to seven months for her to arrive at the destination. The only thing that she has taken is one 40-pound backpack with no food, water or any self-defense weapons. Yanise stated “I’ve never slept on the street or felt hungry and cold during this journey as of yet. There has always been someone happy to provide me with food, water, and accommodation every day.” “I believe that everyone is kind and wants to provide help for others, and the only thing that needs to be done is to awaken this belief.”
Yanise Ho is still skating across the United States now. She has skated 1480 miles over the past 78 days and raised over $10,000. She hopes to write a book to record her experiences after finishing this journey and continue to engage in humanitarian undertakings so as to promote the rights of girls worldwide. Ho also intends to devote herself to the documentary industry and talks about the real world without prejudice in the future.
Source: Asia News
