Norwegian Queen Sonja awards Vidar Boe
The Queen of Norway presented the prize of Devoted citizen to Vidar Boe (59) for his work with society’s most needy.he Queen of Norway presented the prize of Devoted citizen to Vidar Boe (59) for his work with society’s most needy. Boe is known in Norway for his social work within sports and especially for cycling through the country with his Blind fellow Tahir Hussain.
Vidar and Tahir at our event in Oslo last year.
Vidar Boe and Tahir Hussain were one of the key speakers at the Kitaba event in Oslo where Shaykh Abdul Aziz Ahmed launched his book on the life of his close friend, Imran Sabir “Living with Blindness”.
The companionship between Vidar Boe and Tahir Hussain reflected a similar relationship as described by Shaykh Abdul Aziz in his book, which helped inspire the audience to work for inclusion within society.
Tahir suffers from Laurence-Moon-Bardet-Biedl (LMBB) a syndrome which as a result leads to visual impairment and an increase in weight. His only chance to recover was to loose weight and gain better health. It was not until his meeting with Vidar Boe in 2005, who became his friend and fellow cyclist that Hussain was driven to achieve his goals. Boe became his mentor and personal trainer, helping Hussain to become physically fit and spiritually empowered. Together they took part in a cycling trip from Trondheim to Oslo covering a remarkable distance of 540 km.
Both Hussain and Boe inspired the Norwegians; they appeared on various tv-shows together. Hussain’s determined spirit was recognised through the achievement of the award “Norwegian-Pakistani of the Year (2009)”. Similarly a few months later, Boe was presented with “the award of Devoted citizen 2009” (Ildsjælprisen 2009)
We congratulate Boe on his award and hope others can learn from his great achievements in working with the Visually impaired.
