Edition 46: Spring 2009

Sam Callanan is currently taking part in Down Right Kenya, an epic 10,000km charity bicycle ride from Cambridge to Kenya. After five months, they’ve now cycled over 8000km, visited twenty countries and raised £40,000.

As we approached Ethiopia from Sudan, the scenery altered noticeably. Sudan had been beautiful for so many reasons: stunning deserts, endless horizons, flat topography (for cycling!), and camels and acacias vying for life in the nothingness. In Ethiopia, the diversity of animals and plants increased dramatically. There are mature trees and a wide range of birds: hornbills, pelicans, storks, vultures and numerous other species. And monkeys! There are hills for the first time in over a month, and they have brought a welcome coolness to the air.

This green lushness was unexpected. My mental image of Ethiopia was of somewhere dry, dusty, barren and poor. While there’s definitely poverty here, there’s also life everywhere: people around every corner; and fields full of cows, goats and crops. This, along with the lush vegetation, stands in stark contrast to the images I’d seen of the famine years ago. I expect there are still parts where life isn’t so abundant, but having my preconceptions challenged has been one of the most rewarding outcomes of my journey here so far.

Most information I’ve read about cycling through Ethiopia warns of kids throwing stones from the roadside, but we haven’t experienced this. In fact, when recently leaving a small town, the usual gaggle of children followed full of questions. When they saw us struggling with the tough dirt track they decided to give a hand. Soon, we each had four or five little helpers powering us up the hill. Before we knew it we were at the top. While we collapsed in the shade to recover, the children had hardly a bead of sweat between them!

It’s probably fair to say that the children’s attitudes reflect our reactions to them. We try to respond to every wave, “hello” or “you, you, you”. Although we may be telling the hundredth little boy that day that we’re going to Kenya, we do our best to be friendly – after all, that little boy hasn’t heard it before. And 99.99 per cent of the time, if you wave and smile, you’ll get a wave and a smile back; if you don’t, you probably won’t. Like a lot of things in life, you get back what you give out.

 For more information on Down Right Kenya or to make a donation, please visit www.downrightkenya.org