U.S.A, Switchback Magazine-Uganda/Kenya

8/13/2019 U.S.A, Switchback Magazine-Uganda/Kenya

1/6

s


2/6

s


3/6

080 SWITCHBACKMB .COM

14 GRAVEL.

Fro Keto Ede

WORDS & imagES: CaRmEn FREEman-REy

It had been four years since Hans

and I visited East Africa on aWheels 4 Life trip. January 2008

saw us travelling to Tanzania,circumnavigating Kilimanjaroon our bicycles and focusing

our Wheels 4 Life attention on

the Ugweno Valley where wedistributed a number of bicycles.In 2009, we followed up giving

away more bikes, opening a bicyclerepair shop and we completed our

lm, which covered the trips.

At this time, Wheels 4 Life was aedgling charity, just starting out

at that point. We knew we had a lotto learn and our Tanzania journey

set the foundation for the directionwe would choose to take our

charity. Neither of us had any realcomprehension of what lay ahead

for us. Now in 2013, Wheels 4 Life

is very different; we have learneda lot and evolved. We have aninfrastructure in place with a team

of eld volunteers that enablesus to run a charity that is efcient

and effective. That being said, itwas abundantly clear to Hans and

me that it was time for us to visit

East Africa againthis time Kenyaand Ugandawhere we have

given away a couple of thousandbikes already. Our mission was to

meet many of our project leadersin the eld, as well as talk to lot

of our previous bike recipients to

monitor the impact the bicycleshave had on their lives. We alsowanted to give a whole lot more

bicycles away at the same time, 270bikes to be precise, and wanted to

learn more about the countries, thepeople, 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 y from California to Kenyavia Amsterdam, we nally arrived

late at night in Nairobi. Tired andin desperate need of a shower,

we were greeted by Johnnie,our Kenyan driver and security

man. I felt a little alarmed whenapproaching our hotel; we had

to negotiate concrete chicanesand armed guards just to get into

the car park. Then faced withfull airport-type security with

our bags X-rayed and us swiped

with metal detectors just to getto the reception, I wondered

exactly what we were coming to.Another ve electronic gates and

various locks before we couldenter our room instilled in me

a healthy sense that we shouldwatch our bagsand our backs.

Our rst full day began with our

cameraman Rob meeting us atbreakfast straight from a red eye

from England. He came alongto cover our journey on lm as

a follow-up to the 2009 movieWheels 4 Life, A Story About Giving.

A quick cup of tea and we hit theroad with Johnnie in his trusted

Toyota to an area called Ndeiya,which is north east of Nairobi,

where we were meeting with someof our project leaders. It was here

we met Bishop Francis Kamau.

Thanks to an introduction froman Australian based charity, we

started working with BishopKamau in 2012. He is a neexample of a man who grew up

in abject poverty, but through


4/6


5/6084 SWITCHBACKMB .COM

180 km to cover before we would

arrive at the Ugandan border.

As usual, the drive took longerthan we expected, but we were

horror-struck when the line oflorries spread out before us farther

than the eye could see. Our GPSdevice read 7 km to the border.

How can that be? It turns out alorry had overturned about 5 km

further up and everything hadcome to a grinding halt. But we

had our heroic driver Johnnie,who negotiated every ditch andgap between these hunks of metal

like a seasoned Dakar Rally driver,get us to the Uganda crossing in

time to meet Daniel, our driverfor the next leg of our road trip.

Finally in Uganda and on our

way, but the delight soon turnedto disbelief when we spent

another two hours at a standstillin 90-degree heat, with no air

conditioning and exhaust fumeschoking us just to reach the end of

the border. We thought the roads in

Kenya were bad, but the road fromMalaba to Mount Elgon gave usa whole new perspective on road

standards. We rattled, bouncedand groaned our way at the rapid

speed of 20 mph to the Sipi RiverLodge, situated 1,795 meters up

Mount Elgon, where we wouldmeet our host for the next two

days, a British expat named Will.

The Sipi River Lodge is anexquisite place, a collection of

cottages scattered along the hillsideacreage beside the stunning Sipi

Falls. Built in the Ugandan style,

with thatched roofs, slate oorsand batik fabrics, they offeredcomfort and simple luxury againsta backdrop that it will forever

be imprinted in our memories.Indeed, the view out back from our

terrace was of the cascading watersin their magnicent glory.

The next morning, we loaded our

bikes into the 4 x 4 and shuttled to

the top of one of the many plateauson Mt. Elgon. Will had gured out

a route for us that would includefollowing trails carved into the red

dirt that owed along meadows,through villages, across rivers,

along waterfalls and throughthe forests. Mt. Elgon itself is a

huge volcano, with a diameter of80 km across; it stands at 4,321

meters (14,177 feet) above sea leveland has one of the biggest intact

calderas on the planet. Straddlingboth Kenya and Uganda, with the

summit being on the Ugandan side,this is a behemoth of a mountain.

The rst 2,500 meters of Mt. Elgon

is like a giant staircase. A seriesof steep cliffs ascend, leveling off

abruptly into vast plateaus that

expand before our eyes. Fromeach plateau waterfalls descend,

millions of gallons of waterthundering over the precipice until

landing into giant pools that thenow into rivers. At one of the many

vista points, we were able to lookover the sheer drop and could

just make out the small dots on ahillside 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 ofgood sleepall very necessary

for soon we would be on theroad again, this time heading toKampala the capital of Uganda

and a meeting with our nextWheels 4 Life project leader, Agnes

at ARUWE, Action for the RuralEmpowerment of Women. Agnes

was introduced to me in 2010,and she has received 141 bicyclesfrom us since that time. The

bikes are used to go out into thevillages to administer medication

and vaccinations, offer pre- andpost-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 remotelocation, this time Busi Island in

Lake Victoria, the second largestlake in the world. Arriving at the

Mabamba landing site, Hans, Rob,Suzanne (our co-coordinator) and

I climbed into a long canoe ttedwith an outboard motor. Chugging

along at an idle speed we passed

through a narrow channel clearedbetween the water lilies and reeds.

What a wonderful way to get toone of our project sites. Suzanne

then explained that next we had totake the Boda Boda, a motorbike

taxi service whilst Hans could usepedal power courtesy of his bike.

Minutes later, Hans and I entereda larger room lled with seatedpeople holding homemade banners

saying THANK YOU. They wereall voluntary healthcare workers.

Some had been given bikes lastyear and some would be receiving

one that morning. It felt good tosee how elated these people were

to see us and to be able to thankus for their bikes. The Ugandan

government does provide fundingfor health care, but the villages on

the island are so spread out thatthe medics cannot visit all their

patients in the widespread area.Action for the Rural Empowermen

of Women asked the governmentfor 100 bicycles for their workers.

In an interview, Suzanne summedit up: The government gave us

ve bicycles, and up until thisday Wheels 4 Life have given

us 89. This means that each

health worker can travel fartherand faster than before, resultingin many more patients visits.

It was still dark on Friday mornin

as we readied ourselves for anotheday. This time we would be in

Agness hands, and as my primarycontact 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 onour team, and we are denitely

going to be sending funding formore bicycles her way. Today

she was going to take us toKyankwanzi, 252 km northeast of

Kampala and four hours by car.

Friday was race day. Pullinginto the compound of a school,

we could see 40 new bikeslined up, numbered and ready

to go home with their selectedowners. Alongside them were a

few bikes that we had providedin 2011. We were greeted again

by a lot of elated voluntaryhealthcare workers and also the

local government chief activelyworking to improve his county

and not just talk about it. As thebike receivers lined up and signed

their contracts that bind them to aagreement that they will maintain

and not sell their b icycles, Hanswas getting his race face on. We

mentioned that we had prizes, andthat upped the excitement level.The prospect of winning some

adidas sunglasses and varioustreats for the other pa rticipants


6/6086 SWITCHBACKMB .COM

really made their competitive side

kick in. As Hans anticipated, theKyankwanzians really know how

to pedal fast. The race was won bya gentleman in the pink shirt. There

was a positive party atmosphereat the nishing line, everyoneexcited and having a good time.

The Ugandans are lovely people,

cheerful, mellow, agreeablenot atall confrontationala nation that

has seen far too much suffering,ghting and fear since the 1970s.

Now they want to live, let liveand be harmonious with their

neighbors. Something here struckme very early on. I carry sweets to

give out to the village children onour excursions. In both Tanzania

and Kenya the children would

jostle each other out of the wayto get to the ca ndy. Some wouldbe sneaky and go to the back

of the group with the hope thatI wouldnt recognize them in

the furor and go for round two.In Uganda the children would

wait patiently in a row for meto hand them the sweet, then

they would drop into a kind ofcurtsey and say thank you with

a gigantic smile. It is important

to understand the societies thatwe work with and the challenges

they face, as well as knowingthe many positive aspects of any

country we give bikes to. And we

have been able to give 5,500 bikesto people all over the world.

The penultimate day of our tripsaw us saying goodbye to Kampala.

We were on our way to Masaka tomeet Mr. Jude Muleke, our Wheels

4 Life Ugandan ambassador. Judehas a history with us that goes back

to 2009 and is very much a part ofour Ugandan infrastructure. Heis my eyes and ears in Uganda, a

country disabled by atrocious roadsand primitive c ommunication

infrastructure. One of the manywonderful things Jude does is to

help host, twice-yearly Wheels 4Life Family Meetings, at which he

invites all previous, existing andpossible future Ugandan project

leaders. The idea is that they candiscuss the bicycles, how to operate

the project, negotiate for the bestprice for the bikes, teach people

to ride safely, how to maintaintheir bikes and how to follow-

up with reports that provide uswith such vital information.

While we were with Jude, a

young man came to shake myhand. Mark received a bicycle

in 2010, but on this day he toldus that his family could not

afford his secondary school fees.He was given one of our bikes,

took a year off from school andfound himself employment. With

this bike he obtained work ona building site where he would

get water to mix for cement,transporting the large yellow

containers he lled at the riveron his bike rack. He did this for

a year and saved enough moneyso 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 thebeginning 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

Documents

U.S.A, Switchback Magazine-Uganda/Kenya