Bay Area Mountain Bike TEAM

All Women Deserve to Pedal

Earlier this year, my brother and I travelled to Africa to visit a friend working in Rwanda, and to do a mountain biking safari in Kenya.  Neither of us had been to Africa, but the two of us love to bike, love wildlife, and love getting off the beaten path.  And so the trip of a lifetime was born.

Rwanda is a place that most people know only because of it’s prominence in the news in 1994 when the country of 8 million was torn apart by genocide.  In April 1994, neighbors were at war with each other, and the human death toll was astronomical.

15 years later, the country finds itself rebuilding from scratch.  What my brother and I found when we visited “The Land of a Thousand Hills,” was a country eager to please, full of warmth, smiles, and generosity.  We were instantly smitten.

During our time there, we visited Project Rwanda, an organization founded by Tom Ritchey, of biking fame, to introduce the bicycle as a symbol of hope for the war torn country.  Jock Boyer, Hall of Fame road biker, is building the Rwandan National Bike Team from scratch (and based on some recent results, they are poised to be a force to reckon with).

But perhaps an even more inspiring, and unique project, is their Coffee Bike program.  In Rwanda, people travel by foot, primarily.  There are very few cars, and some motorbikes.  With an average per capita income of about $350 per year, most Rwandans rely on walking to carry water, firewood, and to carry produce and cargo.  The Coffee Bike program provides sturdy, specially designed bikes for Rwandan farmers to be able to transport goods and produce, particularly coffee.  These bikes cost about $200 each, which is simply out of reach for most Rwandan farmers.

While riding with Project Rwanda Program Director Kim Coats, I mentioned that my brother and I wanted to fund a bike for someone.  She asked if she could earmark our donation for a woman.  In Rwanda, it’s very rare to see a woman on a bike of any sort.  Kim knew a woman, Penina, who was very interested in getting a bike.

In fact, to illustrate just how uncommon it is to see a woman on a bike in Rwanda, while Kim and I were climbing a hill in one of the villages, a farmer carrying a load of potatoes passed us and was so distracted he rode right into the bushes and tipped over.  Granted, we were also Mzungus (white people), so the combination was a bit startling!

That’s when I decided to reach out my team, the Bay Area Team LunaChix Mountain Bike, to ask them to support Penina in her quest to get a bike.  When I returned from the trip, we put together the donation and sent it off, along with a Luna shirt and shorts.

Soon after, Penina had her bike.  Kim said that when she received the bike, she couldn’t stop smiling.  I believe it – whenever I get on my bike I feel the same way.

Team LunaChix Bay Area is proud to support Project Rwanda, and even more proud to help Penina as she pedals her way around the Land of a Thousand Hills.

If you would like to sponsor a cargo bike for someone in Rwanda, please visit http://www.projectrwanda.org.  Just think about how many more women in Rwanda would benefit from having their own Coffee Bike if every local Team LunaChix participated!