Current Projects
Bike Donations:
Every year, Tour d’Afrique Ltd donates at least one new or refurbished bicycle per rider to health-care workers and other deserving individuals in Africa. In the six years since the creation of the company, Tour d’Afrique Ltd in partnership with our participants and groups such as CAP AIDS (Canada) and Leusden Rotary club in the Netherlands have donated over 600 bikes. In 2007, bicycles were donated to organizations in Kenya, Malawi, Namibia and South Africa. We are continuing in this fine tradition on the 2008 tour. Learn more.
TDA 2008
Wednesday April 30th, 2008 - Toronto, Canada
Due to the political violence in Kenya this year, we were unable to conduct our usual donation in Nairobi. As a result we have made a cash donation of $2000 to one of the TDA Foundation's annual recipients, Maji Mazuri. Instead of bikes, this year the funds will go towards desperately needed food, blankets and mattresses, cooking pots and charcoal stoves, and clothes for the many members of Maji Mazuri in Kenya that have been displaced by the recent riots.
Saturday, April 26th, 2008 - Windhoek, Namibia
The Tour d’ Afrique Foundation donated 68 bicycles in Windhoek, Namibia on Saturday, April 26th. Bicycles were split between three non-profit organizations— Physically Active Youth (PAY), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Penduka TB Programme. Fundraising for all 68 of the bicycles came from TDA 2008 rider Chris Wille, a native of Victoria, British Columbia.The event was held at Joe’s Beer House and facilitated by Michael Link, a representative from the Namibian branch of the Bicycle Empowerment Network (BEN).
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) - Osire refugee camp The camp is located in central Namibia, about 225 Km from the capital Windhoek, and currently has about 6,000 camp-based population including refugees and asylum seekers (down from 20,000 in 2001), of which 75% are Angolans, followed by others from Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They received 19 bikes that will support healthcare activities, education and youth mobilisation.
Physically Active Youth (PAY)
They are a community-based strategy to help support and facilitate the development of youth in an at-risk context, in a low-income neighbourhoods in Katutura. Their mandate is academic excellence through sport training. They currently have
85 students. After last year's donation from the TDA Foundation, PAY now has a cycling programme. This year they are receiving 32 bikes, of which 12 will be MTB for their mountain bike team.
Penduka TB Programme
Penduka TB Programme provides treatment, care and support to just over 500 patients a day at 14 community-based health facilities located throughout Katutura. Approximately 70% of the staff are themselves former TB patients.
They also have community outreach activities to educate the community about the signs and symptoms of TB and the importance of early diagnosis and to help reduce misconceptions and misunderstandings about the disease that can lead to stigma and discrimination and finally to educate the community about the importance of providing care and support to TB patients. These activities are carried out in schools, churches, health facilities, open markets and any place people gather and perform dramas and share information about TB. They are receiving 13 bikes for the community outreach activities.
Four extra bikes will be allocated to Penduka's activities with TB patients hospitalized at Katutura State Hospital. Because these patients pose a possible public health risk they are usually inpatients for 12 -18 months.
Due to the poor conditions in the hospital these patients often have very little to do or to entertain themselves. In order to address this we are starting a community garden for them at the hospital, a drama group and a choir. The bikes will be used by patients as an opportunity to exercise (which is very good for their physical treatment) and to get outside in the fresh air. The actual hospital grounds are quite extensive and have an elaborate road networks within the compound that the patients could use without ever leaving the hospital grounds. It is felt that the bicycles would provide the patients with a form of exercise and entertainment.
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 - Lilongwe, Malawi
The Tour d’ Afrique Foundation donated fifty-seven bicycles in Lilongwe, Malawi on Thursday, April 3rd. Bicycles were split between two non-profit organizations—CPAR (Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief) and Coopi Maleeza. Fundraising for 41 of the bicycles came from 2008 riders: Kerri Finlayson (28 bicycles), Deborah Menzies (8 bicycles), and Maxime Allard (5 bicycles). Sixteen of the bicycles were donated through funds raised by previous TDA riders: Phil Hart (3 bicycles), Monty Orr (5 bicycles), J.J. Hilsinger (5 bicycles), and Fred Pomoli (3 bicycles).
At the donation, a CPAR representative gave a brief speech thanking the TDA for bicycles and reiterating the importance of bicycles to their mission. He explained that much of their work takes places Malawi’s rural villages and bicycles allow peer educators to visit many villages in a day. Coopi Maleeza’s representative expressed her gratitude for the bicycles and explained the bicycles' importance in preventing malaria.
The bicycles were purchased through the Africycle program (www.africycle.org), a non profit organization that collects used bicycles in Toronto and ships them to Malawi via shipping container. When they arrive in Zomba, Malawi, the Africycle shop—run by volunteers and trained locals— repairs and restores the bikes to be sold locally.
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
During the first rest day in Addis, the Tour D Afrique Foundation took the opportunity to donate fifty bicycles to five NGOs operating in Ethiopia. CPAR, Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief, co-founded in 1984 by our very own Henry Gold, received the bicycles and will distribute them to five local NGOs. Ten bikes will go to each of the following:
CPAR Ethiopia - an international organization that has Program Area base camps in the Jarso district of the Oromia region and the Dibate district of the Benishangui Gumuz region. It has an integrated community development program for disadvantaged communities with a focus on primary health care, food security, natural resource management, income generation activities and gender.
WeSMCO (Welfare for Street Mothers & Chioldren Organization) - a local NGO working in the sector of education and health of the disadvantaged communities in Addis Ababa, Benishangul Gumuz and Amhara regions that focuses on child care/support, reproductive health, harmful traditional practices and control of HIV/AIDS programs.
HORCO (Hope for Rural Children & Orphans), BDRA (Benishangul Rehabilitation & Development Association) and Tikuret Legumuz - these are three local NGOs that work with grass root communities on various basic service development programs such as health, water and education. HORCO is based in Addis Ababa while the other two are based in Assosa, the capital of the Benishangul Gumuz region.
Local media attended the event and Gold gave a short speech encouraging bicycles as a sustainable means of transportation.
This set of 50 bicycles will be used for income generation activities. Each bicycle will help a jobless youth find or create a job in the community.
Funds for this donation were provided by Tour d’Afrique Ltd.
TDA 2007
At the TDA 2007 closing ceremonies on Saturday, May 12th at the V &A Waterfront in Cape Town, 30 bikes were donated to BEN (Bicycle Empowerment Network) an organization that promotes the use of bicycles in order to address low-cost mobility, health and access to opportunity, employment, skills and education. This donation was made possible through the efforts of Andrew Paton, Russell Tregonning, Sharon Armstrong and Tour d'Afrique Ltd. A tandem bike was also donated to the Athlone School for the Blind in Cape Town. This donation was made by the Rush-Miller Foundation
(www.rushmillerfoundation.org/) in honour of Douglas Sidialo's completion of the entire Tour.
On Saturday April 28th in Windhoek, the Tour D’Afrique Foundation held its third bike donation and gave away 25 bicycles. The ceremony took place at Joe’s Beer House, an icon of a German Beer House and so full of paraphernalia that consisted of funny signs, beer mugs, pictures and along with the large beer tables, beer garden, music, fish ponds gift shop created a fantastic atmosphere for riders to attend, eat food, relax and support the TDA Foundation. There was plenty of food and drinks available to satisfy even the biggest rider appetites.
The bikes were donated to an organization called Physically Active Youth which is a community based strategy that supports youth at risk or in a low socio economic context in neighborhoods in Namibia. The program focuses on the physical, health, academic and personal development of the individual as well as the community involvement. The feeling of the co-coordinators of PAY is that cycling has many ongoing benefits to the young kids involved in the programme. Representatives from both PAY and the Bicycle Empowerment Network (BEN) were at the donation as well as about 20 of the young kids who learn bike mechanics as part of the programme. A worthy cause for the youth of Namibia and one we hope to continue in the coming years.
Our second donation ceremony took place in Lilongwe on Thursday, April 5thth. The Tour d’Afrique Foundation, throufgh the solo fundraising efforts of TDA 2007 rider Andrew Cameron, donated 24 bicycles to CAYO, a youth serving, non-profit, non-governmental organization focusing on the improvement of the social and health status of young people aged from 7 – 24. Special attention and focus is given to orphaned children from 7 – 13 and those affected with HIV/AIDS. The bikes will be used in a variety of different ways including delivery of medicine, informational visits and as a bike ambulance. The ceremony was attended by a variety of people including the high commissioner of South Africa, members of the CAYO organization, members of the Capital Cycling Federation, members of a local disabled organization and of course, our riders themselves. Over the 5 years the tour has been running, the donations of bikes in Lilongwe have increased from 2 in 2003 to 24 this year. The donation was held on the grounds of Mabaya Camp and we thank the new owners, Janie and Tom, who created a wonderful cozy atmosphere complete with two dogs, great staff and a whole lot of delicious dips and chips!!
Our first donation ceremony took place in Nairobi on Monday, March 12th. The Tour d’Afrique Foundation, assisted by the incredible fundraising efforts of TDA 2007 riders Ruth Ferlow, Donna Green and Trina Prior, donated 24 bicycles to Maji Mazuri and the National Council of Women in Kenya, two NGO’s dedicated to easing the suffering of HIV/Aids victims in Nairobi.
“It was more than your average press conference” reported Shanny Hill, “It was full of heart and emotion when the kids from Maji Mazuri arrived, on their way to receive their treatment, and recited a poem of celebration they had created especially for the occasion.”
Student Discounts:
In order to promote the goals of the TDA Foundation and to assist younger riders in their goal of riding across Africa on a bike, the company has decided to offer a schedule of discounted fees, available to students who raise funds to be used by the Foundation to purchase bicycles for the use of health care workers in Africa. Students will initiate campaigns in their educational institutions and communities, sensitizing their communities to the issues of health and transportation in Africa. For more information click here.