on your bike! charity on a two-wheeler
A friend, ex-teammate, and heroine of mine is cycling 11,900 km through Africa.* Carola is making this epic trek in aid of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, a Canadian organization doing major things for people affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa, and the Tour D’Afrique Foundation… yeah, who?
The Tour D’Afrique Foundation is a six-year-old David in a peloton of Goliaths. Little guys like this can get lost in the fundraising fray, so it’s no surprise I had never heard of them — the budget is small, they have few international associations and there are no celeb ambassadors to sex things up. But they DO something clever and logical and important — they provide bikes to health-care workers and other people who help make communities work. As they operate on a small, agile scale, you can easily see the difference twenty Euros makes. Children are taught, babies immunised and adults supported because of organizations like this one. This is truly good work.
Where does social media come into all this, then?
Well, that’s the annoying bit. It doesn’t — yet. Looking at a — doubtlessly under-resourced — charity like the Tour D’Afrique Foundation, social media tools could and should be harnessed to get this cause blipping on more people’s radars, but the digital divide is still getting in the way. Their site is clunky, hard to navigate, and does a good job of hiding the best bits about them.
But I think change is coming.
One of the things that makes me so excited about social media is that these tools are easy to use. Sure, I’m an early adaptor, but I’m also a tech-phobe who still can’t reset the microwave clock. And I am very hopeful that this new wave of user-loving social media tools will offer voices like this one everything they need to be heard… and that the audience will continue to grow.
I’m listening, and I bet I’m not alone.
*Like on a pedal bike, with a hard little bum-pinching seat, and sleeping in a tent, and forgoing hot showers, and all this for three months. I’m all for putting my money where my mouth is, but the buck, for me, stops a LONG way short of 12,000 clicks on a two-wheeler. Brava, girl.
