One Rider's Story
My real estate development business in “hunker down/hibernation” mode as well as extreme restlessness presented an opportunity to make a bold if rather foolhardy move on my part. I registered for the 2009 Tour d’Afrique just 6 weeks prior to departure. Sure I’ve talked about doing the tour since 2004 when I first heard about it but I always thought I’d spend a year preparing for it physically, learning about bike mechanics and in general getting it together.
So here I am at age 54, cycling across Africa, the novice of the group, the last one into camp each evening, watching everyone pass me in route to our destination. What makes my lack of preparedness tolerable though is that I’m cycling, albeit slowly, for the vulnerable children orphaned by AIDS in east Africa. Global Alliance for Africa (GAA), an NGO headquartered in Chicago forms partnerships with Africans in Kenya and Tanzania which innovatively and respectfully provide support for these often forgotten children. I’ve watched GAA grow over the last 6 years creating self sustaining programs through micro lending and other development initiatives which now help to support over 7,000 orphans. As a volunteer, I’ve organized and escorted fundraising groups to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro five times and last March six of us completed “The Great Walk of Africa”, a 110 mile walking safari through Tsavo West and East National Park in Kenya. Collectively these tireless and adventurous philanthropist groups of volunteers have raised $280,000 for GAA.
This time I’ve traded my hiking boots for biking shoes with the goal of $10 per mile, $73,000 for the orphans. Crossing this great continent by bicycle has been an indescribable journey. The support from the organizers, the camaraderie of the cyclists as well as the wonder of crossing Africa and seeing its people has given me what I’ve needed as a novice to keep pushing on. I have to say that the Tour d’Afrique is by far the greatest personal challenge I’ve ever faced.
- Ann Gallagher
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Posted February 27, 2009 by Guest Author
Kenya | Ramblings | Tour Updates |
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