Katie’s sudden departure left us with a spare bike and I really couldn’t face dragging it all the way down to South Africa with me. Seeing as how Herbert was the original starter and began the journey back on day 1, it felt right that I should continue on him and give Flashdance away to a worthy cause.

After considerable searching we stumbled on a tiny little orphanage just outside Arusha. They receive almost no support at all and after a short conversation with Father Zacharia I felt that this was a good home for Flashdance. She was bought down from Nairobi on the top of a car and yesterday I went round to the Huruma Orphanage to give her away.

It was a twenty minute drive out of Arusha up a long dirt track to reach the tiny little building that housed the children. Abdul, the director of Abrojaley Africa Ajabu Ltd. has very close ties with the orphanage and kindly offered to drive me up there. Although the building was in need of some considerable love and care the setting was absolutely breathtaking. There was a spectacular view out the back looking up at the mountains blanketed in foliage. There was a small old swing and a tiny little football pitch set in amongst the banana trees. From what Farther Zacharia explained the children lived primarily off bananas (which they grew themselves) and from milk that is produced by the two cows that has been given to them. As it stood the single building could only accommodate a maximum of 22 children, some of which are HIV orphans others have simply been left at the gate with no explanation. As we walked around meeting the kids I was told all about the dream of educating each and every one of them and I listened intently as he meticulously explained how he planned to achieve this right down to what crops he was going to plant where and how big each classroom was going to be.

I am no psychologist and I have not visited enough orphanages in my life to create a convincing case study but I have found that children with the least often have the most to give. I have no idea whether the unlimited levels of affection that they display is a way of compensating for the lack of love that they have received or whether it is simply a natural human emotion that manifests itself in times of need. Despite all this outward display of affection I couldn’t help but be left with a sense of emptiness as I looked around.

I asked Farther Zacharia what the bicycle meant to them and whether it would be of any use so far up this dirt track. In truth I was partly expecting him to say that it was a very kind gesture but that it would probably be sold to help feed the children. As it turned out he told me that the children had been praying for a bike for some time now. It is more than a 2km walk for them to collect water each day and on occasions when they could buy supplies it was a long an arduous walk back to the house and the bike would make their lives considerably easier. As I watched the kids race around on the bike I also suspected that it would provide them with a little entertainment from time to time, in between the daily chores.

After a healthy amount of hugging it was time to continue on my journey and as we pulled away down the hill I caught sight of the children racing around on Flashdance back in the distance. I have to say that I have had my fair share of disagreements with Flashdance, I’ve even come close to quietly pushing her off a cliff, but seeing how useful she really is to people in need made me forget all the quarrels we have had.

I know a few weeks back we said that our African adventure would have no sponsors involved. Well that’s no longer exactly true!!! In addition to two of our long-term sponsors; Mountain Equipment and Profeet, who are once again providing us with their exceptionally brilliant kit and making the trip possible. We are also joined last minute by ‘Raleigh‘. It was a bit of a stroke of luck really, during a conversation with their marketing team we discovered that they were involved with an African project called ‘Re-Cycle‘.

‘Raleigh’ have recently joined up with the charity Re-Cycle. The idea is simple… in Britain, thousands of bicycles are thrown away or lie unused in sheds, while in Africa walking is the principal means of transport. The burden of walking up to 4 hours a day (for collecting water, or walking to school) adds massively to the average family’s workload, hampering their economic and education opportunities. A bicycle simply cuts travel time to a fraction and allows for carrying passengers and heavy loads.

‘Re-Cycle’s’ mission is to collect and ship second-hand bicycles and spare parts to Africa. With the help of their partners, they teach local people the skills to repair and maintain them, to improve their lives in a sustainable way.

 

The project is obviously having fantastic success as they have sent over 23,000 bikes so far!!! Not bad.

That broken rusty old piece of scrap propped up in the corner of your shed will actually not be far off the bicycles that will transport us 8000km across Africa in a few weeks. So if you would like to play a part in Re-Cycle, by donating your old disused bikes to a great cause, then please visit www.re-cycle.org or www.raleigh.co.uk.

A huge thank you to Mountain Equipment, Profeet and Raleigh.

Katie-Jane