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the happy issue

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the happy issue
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14

GRAVEL.

It had been four years since Hans and I visited East Africa on a Wheels 4 Life trip. January 2008 saw us travelling to Tanzania, circumnavigating Kilimanjaro on our bicycles and focusing our Wheels 4 Life attention on the Ugweno Valley where we distributed a number of bicycles. In 2009, we followed up giving away more bikes, opening a bicycle repair shop and we completed our film, which covered the trips. At this time, Wheels 4 Life was a fledgling charity, just starting out at that point. We knew we had a lot to learn and our Tanzania journey set the foundation for the direction we would choose to take our charity. Neither of us had any real comprehension of what lay ahead for us. Now in 2013, Wheels 4 Life is very different; we have learned a lot and evolved. We have an infrastructure in place with a team of field volunteers that enables us to run a charity that is efficient and effective. That being said, it was abundantly clear to Hans and me that it was time for us to visit

From Kenya to Eden

East Africa againthis time Kenya and Ugandawhere we have given away a couple of thousand bikes already. Our mission was to meet many of our project leaders in the field, as well as talk to lot of our previous bike recipients to monitor the impact the bicycles have had on their lives. We also wanted to give a whole lot more bicycles away at the same time, 270 bikes to be precise, and wanted to learn more about the countries, the people, their character and needs. We are often asked these questions: Can we make a difference? Are we making a difference? After a grueling journey that saw us fly from California to Kenya via Amsterdam, we finally arrived late at night in Nairobi. Tired and in desperate need of a shower, we were greeted by Johnnie, our Kenyan driver and security man. I felt a little alarmed when approaching our hotel; we had to negotiate concrete chicanes and armed guards just to get into the car park. Then faced with full airport-type security with our bags X-rayed and us swiped with metal detectors just to get to the reception, I wondered exactly what we were coming to. Another five electronic gates and various locks before we could enter our room instilled in me a healthy sense that we should watch our bagsand our backs. Our first full day began with our cameraman Rob meeting us at breakfast straight from a red eye from England. He came along to cover our journey on film as a follow-up to the 2009 movie Wheels 4 Life, A Story About Giving. A quick cup of tea and we hit the road with Johnnie in his trusted Toyota to an area called Ndeiya, which is north east of Nairobi, where we were meeting with some of our project leaders. It was here we met Bishop Francis Kamau. Thanks to an introduction from an Australian based charity, we started working with Bishop Kamau in 2012. He is a fine example of a man who grew up in abject poverty, but through

WORDS & images: Carmen Freeman-Rey

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These new faces were replacing the happy characters we had left behind. Dry, dusty roads gave way to muddy, beaten tracks, and yet our driver was not phased as he battled his way through a maze of twists and turns, tires sloshing through the muck and flinging earth up on to our windscreen. By this time we were once again tired after a long day, our bodies felt battered from being bounced around on the bumpy roads and it had been 12 hours since we had eaten anything except a few shared Clif Bars and sugar cane stalks. The Orucho Hills Center and surrounding satellite projects have received 450 bicycles from Wheels 4 Life over the years. Run by Pastor Joseph Onyango, his community was chosen by the Rory Walworth Memorial Fund in England to receive the bicycles. Tragically, Rory Walworth died at the age of 19 in a mountain biking accident, and his family wanted to do something special and positive in

his memory. What was to be a few bikes turned into a few hundred thanks to countless fundraising events in Great Britain. Now there are 450 bicycles and approximately 2,000 Kenyan people being helped thanks to Rory. Joseph Onyango could not have been more different than Bishop Kamau. While the Bishop asked for nothing, Joseph asked for more and more. We couldnt blame him though, his community is desperately poor and his philosophy is to get as much as he can. In his bright fuchsia pink garb, holding court to the more minor pastors from further afield and local government bigwigs, there is a definite sense that Reverend Onyango enjoys the elevated status that having the ear of Wheels 4 Life gives him. But there is no doubt that he is looking out for his people and working hard. He helps us to get the bicycles to the people that really need them, and if he gets extra community

clout and a few extra pineapples and bananas from the villagers because of this, that is fine with us. After a pretty rough night, we woke to the 5 a.m. pre-dawn sky. Today we would donate 100 bicycles from Rorys fund, and even have a tree planting ceremony to commemorate the event. Three other Wheels 4 Life project leaders had travelled to meet us at Orucho Hills, and we benefited from a roundtable discussion about the difference our bicycles have been making, the great need for more bikes, and explaining to them that although we would love to be able to give away so many more, raising the funds is a huge challenge. It had been our plan to spend another night in the hut with the bugs, but having learned our lesson, that every journey takes twice as long as we anticipated, we made the decision to get on the road and head to the city of Kisumu that night. We still had

education and determination moved away from a life that would have meant scraping together a living as a seller of homegrown produce or charcoal. After studying in Nairobi and the United States, he returned and turned his talents toward helping many communities in a number of African countries. Francis took us to the grounds of a church in Village #4 Ndeiya, where we met some of our previous bicycles recipients and gave away another 40 bikes. It is important to us to know the identity of every person who receives a bike from us and how they will use it; our project leaders follow up with them and report back to us about how their bikes are being looked after and what has been achieved with the aid of a bicycle. At Ndeiya we were able to meet a boy named Sami. When Sami was nine years old his father died, leaving him without a mother (she had a breakdown), a disabled sister and another sister who was still a baby. He became the sole provider for his family by fetching water

or firewood for his neighbors in return for a small fee. Now Sami is 13 and still going to school despite the daily challenges that face him. We gave him a bike, and it has allowed him to carry more water and firewood for his neighbors in a fraction of the time it took before. As a result, his daily income has increased fourfold. After another night in Nairobi, we headed west in the direction of Kisumu. After approximately 200 km we arrived at Solei, a remote village near Nakuru. Again, Bishop Kamau met us there and introduced us to some of the people that previously received bikes. In Solei we distributed another 30 bikes. Bishop Kamau then took us on a tour of the area so that we could meet a few more of the people that had received bicycles the previous year. We probably only drove for about 30 miles, but these arent roads, they are deeply rutted dirt tracks, and we spent hours being jolted around, fearing the car would come to a grinding halt in our

pursuit of meeting bike owners. One such person was Simon, who we found at a building site in Ngugi. Simon suffered a stroke 10 years ago, and we could see that he had restricted use in his left arm and leg. Despite this, he continues to use his bicycle to get to the construction site wherever the crew is working. When I asked him if his son would follow him into the building industry, he said: Oh no, Im working so that I can pay for his education and he can have a better job, a better life. It was time to say our goodbye to Bishop Kamau and make our way to Katito in western Kenya. This is where Orucho Hills is located, and we were hoping to arrive there well before nightfall. As we drew closer to the village, which is situated not far from the shores of Lake Victoria, it became evident that things were changingnot just the weather but also the personalities of the people. Faces that held hard stares instantly reminded us that this was the epicenter of the election riots that caused havoc a few years before.

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180 km to cover before we would arrive at the Ugandan border. As usual, the drive took longer than we expected, but we were horror-struck when the line of lorries spread out before us farther than the eye could see. Our GPS device read 7 km to the border. How can that be? It turns out a lorry had overturned about 5 km further up and everything had come to a grinding halt. But we had our heroic driver Johnnie, who negotiated every ditch and gap between these hunks of metal like a seasoned Dakar Rally driver, get us to the Uganda crossing in time to meet Daniel, our driver for the next leg of our road trip. Finally in Uganda and on our way, but the delight soon turned to disbelief when we spent another two hours at a standstill in 90-degree heat, with no air conditioning and exhaust fumes choking us just to reach the end of the border. We thought the roads in Kenya were bad, but the road from Malaba to Mount Elgon gave us a whole new perspective on road standards. We rattled, bounced and groaned our way at the rapid speed of 20 mph to the Sipi River Lodge, situated 1,795 meters up Mount Elgon, where we would meet our host for the next two days, a British expat named Will. The Sipi River Lodge is an exquisite place, a collection of cottages scattered along the hillside acreage beside the stunning Sipi Falls. Built in the Ugandan style, with thatched roofs, slate floors and batik fabrics, they offered comfort and simple luxury against a backdrop that it will forever be imprinted in our memories. Indeed, the view out back from our terrace was of the cascading waters in their magnificent glory. The next morning, we loaded our bikes into the 4 x 4 and shuttled to

government does provide funding for health care, but the villages on the island are so spread out that the medics cannot visit all their patients in the widespread area. Action for the Rural Empowerment of Women asked the government for 100 bicycles for their workers. In an interview, Suzanne summed it up: The government gave us five bicycles, and up until this day Wheels 4 Life have given us 89. This means that each health worker can travel farther and faster than before, resulting in many more patients visits. It was still dark on Friday morning as we readied ourselves for another day. This time we would be in Agness hands, and as my primary contact within the organization, I was really looking forward to meeting her. She is warmhearted, hardworking, cheerful and fun. We are very lucky to have her on our team, and we are definitely going to be sending funding for more bicycles her way. Today she was going to take us to Kyankwanzi, 252 km northeast of Kampala and four hours by car. Friday was race day. Pulling into the compound of a school, we could see 40 new bikes lined up, numbered and ready to go home with their selected owners. Alongside them were a few bikes that we had provided in 2011. We were greeted again by a lot of elated voluntary healthcare workers and also the local government chief actively working to improve his county and not just talk about it. As the bike receivers lined up and signed their contracts that bind them to an agreement that they will maintain and not sell their bicycles, Hans was getting his race face on. We mentioned that we had prizes, and that upped the excitement level. The prospect of winning some adidas sunglasses and various treats for the other participants

the top of one of the many plateaus on Mt. Elgon. Will had figured out a route for us that would include following trails carved into the red dirt that flowed along meadows, through villages, across rivers, along waterfalls and through the forests. Mt. Elgon itself is a huge volcano, with a diameter of 80 km across; it stands at 4,321 meters (14,177 feet) above sea level and has one of the biggest intact calderas on the planet. Straddling both Kenya and Uganda, with the summit being on the Ugandan side, this is a behemoth of a mountain. The first 2,500 meters of Mt. Elgon is like a giant staircase. A series of steep cliffs ascend, leveling off abruptly into vast plateaus that

expand before our eyes. From each plateau waterfalls descend, millions of gallons of water thundering over the precipice until landing into giant pools that then flow into rivers. At one of the many vista points, we were able to look over the sheer drop and could just make out the small dots on a hillside opposite that were in fact the cottages we were staying in. Sipi gave us a chance to re-group, charge equipment, wash our clothes and get a few nights of good sleepall very necessary for soon we would be on the road again, this time heading to Kampala the capital of Uganda and a meeting with our next Wheels 4 Life project leader, Agnes

at ARUWE, Action for the Rural Empowerment of Women. Agnes was introduced to me in 2010, and she has received 141 bicycles from us since that time. The bikes are used to go out into the villages to administer medication and vaccinations, offer pre- and post-natal care, and to educate the community about disease prevention and family planning. As with all of our projects, we were once again headed to a remote location, this time Busi Island in Lake Victoria, the second largest lake in the world. Arriving at the Mabamba landing site, Hans, Rob, Suzanne (our co-coordinator) and I climbed into a long canoe fitted with an outboard motor. Chugging

along at an idle speed we passed through a narrow channel cleared between the water lilies and reeds. What a wonderful way to get to one of our project sites. Suzanne then explained that next we had to take the Boda Boda, a motorbike taxi service whilst Hans could use pedal power courtesy of his bike. Minutes later, Hans and I entered a larger room filled with seated people holding homemade banners saying THANK YOU. They were all voluntary healthcare workers. Some had been given bikes last year and some would be receiving one that morning. It felt good to see how elated these people were to see us and to be able to thank us for their bikes. The Ugandan

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really made their competitive side kick in. As Hans anticipated, the Kyankwanzians really know how to pedal fast. The race was won by a gentleman in the pink shirt. There was a positive party atmosphere at the finishing line, everyone excited and having a good time. The Ugandans are lovely people, cheerful, mellow, agreeablenot at all confrontationala nation that has seen far too much suffering, fighting and fear since the 1970s. Now they want to live, let live and be harmonious with their neighbors. Something here struck me very early on. I carry sweets to give out to the village children on our excursions. In both Tanzania and Kenya the children would jostle each other out of the way to get to the candy. Some would be sneaky and go to the back of the group with the hope that I wouldnt recognize them in the furor and go for round two. In Uganda the children would wait patiently in a row for me to hand them the sweet, then they would drop into a kind of curtsey and say thank you with a gigantic smile. It is important

to understand the societies that we work with and the challenges they face, as well as knowing the many positive aspects of any country we give bikes to. And we have been able to give 5,500 bikes to people all over the world. The penultimate day of our trip saw us saying goodbye to Kampala. We were on our way to Masaka to meet Mr. Jude Muleke, our Wheels 4 Life Ugandan ambassador. Jude has a history with us that goes back to 2009 and is very much a part of our Ugandan infrastructure. He is my eyes and ears in Uganda, a country disabled by atrocious roads and primitive communication infrastructure. One of the many wonderful things Jude does is to help host, twice-yearly Wheels 4 Life Family Meetings, at which he invites all previous, existing and possible future Ugandan project leaders. The idea is that they can discuss the bicycles, how to operate the project, negotiate for the best price for the bikes, teach people to ride safely, how to maintain their bikes and how to followup with reports that provide us with such vital information.

While we were with Jude, a young man came to shake my hand. Mark received a bicycle in 2010, but on this day he told us that his family could not afford his secondary school fees. He was given one of our bikes, took a year off from school and found himself employment. With this bike he obtained work on a building site where he would get water to mix for cement, transporting the large yellow containers he filled at the river on his bike rack. He did this for a year and saved enough money so that he could pay his fees and go back to school. What now? He left the building site behind and is now going to university, where he is studying hard with the aim to become a doctor. We have now come full circle, so that the question posed at the beginning is now where we end: Can we make a difference? Yes. More: Visit Wheels4Life.com to see how you can make a difference. Website for Sipi River Lodge, Uganda; sipiriverlodge.com S

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