Kona BikeTown Africa

Kona and Cranmore team up for a CAUSE

Next week, June 20th, Cranmore will be hosting CAUSE Canada Cup mountain bike race. For the past two years, the race has been famously known as Ziggy Gnarly. This year, Cranmore and Rundle Mountain Cycling Club have partnered with CAUSE CANADA.
 

CAUSE CANADA is an International Relief and Development Organization which strives to empower impoverished communities and individuals around the world. KONA has partnered with CAUSE to supply Western Africa relief workers with Kona Africa Bikes that enable them to reach more remote areas.

The mountain bike event will feature the CAUSE celebrity KONA Africa bike race where celebrities will race with Kona Africa Bikes on an eight kilometer track. All the proceeds from the event will go to public health teaching and HIV/AIDS prevention work in West Africa.

 

Kona's Michelle Gault On CBC Radio

On the morning of June 10, Kona Bike’s Michelle Gault spoke with CBC radio host Rick Cluff on the Early Edition about the Kona BikeTown Africa program and AfricaBike. The short segment highlights the history behind the program, how the Kona AfricaBikes assist home healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa and how you can help the program through numerous donation options.

LISTEN HERE.

 

145 Miles And $2,000

Michael Tapogna (aka “Mikestro”) and Paul A. Tapogna (aka “BigToe”) are the: FRATELLI TAPOGNA CYCLING CLUB.

On Sunday May 17, the brothers rode 145 miles from Penn Station, NYC to Montauk - the eastern tip of Long Island, NY.

“It was all in the rain ... it was tough but it was worth it” says Paul.

Michael and Paul were inspired by Kona’s AfricaBike program and decided to do this ride to raise funds for Kona Basic Needs and the BikeTown Africa program. They collected over $2,000 which will provide 20 AfricaBikes to home healthcare workers.

Congratulations from Kona to Michael and Paul, job well done dudes.

African Healthcare Workers Bike Toward Future

In Delft, Capetown, the MaAfrika Tikkun healthcare workers can be seen cruising the streets between shacks and houses, dressing wounds and caring for the ill. The South African government pays home-based carers such as the MaAfrika to visit eight patients a day. Unfortunately, two years ago, the carers were going about their work by foot and could only visit around five people a day.

Last year, 108 MaAfrika Healthcare workers received Kona AfricaBikes which have since enabled them to do their work a little better. The carers now see 8-12 people a day, spend more time with the patients and respond to emergencies more efficiently. Also, according to Mobility Magazine, cycling is four times faster than walking. It takes as much effort to walk at 4kan hour as it does to ride 16k an hour. So, in a day of 16k of travel, a bicycle saves about three hours or more.

One of the recipients, Esmerelda Piers says, "When someone thanks me for a job well done, I know why I am doing this. And the bicycle helps me do it better."

 

Partnership With UTI To Deliver AfricaBikes

Most of you who are reading this probably know a bit about the BikeTown Africa program. What you might not know is the logistical game that goes on with trying to deliver 1,000 Kona AfricaBikes to different parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

UTI (a global shipping company we've worked with in the past) recently suggested that they handle the door-to-door delivery of all bikes to Africa to ease delivery issues and make things more seamless. These guys laid on their support thick, saying - this is what we do and if we handle the door-to-door, the process will be more efficient and effective for everyone involved. We said, yes, thank you, you are the best.

Then UTI added, by the way, we won't charge you for it. We replied, you are the sickest, raddest, coolest people on the planet. They agreed.

UTI has committed to delivering all the Africabikes that are going to healthcare workers this year. So, what does this commitment amount to? In real terms, transport can be half the cost of getting a bicycle landed in a country, so financially the support is huge. And this in turn amounts to a more sustainable and streamlined delivery of bicycles overall. UTI's commitment certainly won't go unnoticed by the home healthcare workers in Tanzania and South Africa - who are next in line to receive the bicycles this year.

For the full update, visit Bicycling magazine.

KENYA: Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation - Kona Africabike Donation

In April, Kona Basic Needs donated 75 Kona Africabikes to the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation in Kapenguria, Kenya. Check out the video from the trip. 

AfricaBike Featured In REI Gearmail

In their current Gearmail Newsletter that is dished out to 2.65 Million subscribers, REI has highlighted the Kona AfricaBike and BikeTown Africa program in its "Featured Gear" section.

The article praises the goal of the program and sheds light on the bike that has changed thousands of lives. For the full story, CLICK HERE.

Thanks For $7,282.45

And the support for the BikeTown Africa program keeps pouring in from the Blacksburg, VA area. This time the generous folks at the Blacksburg Health and Fitness at the Weight Club held a fundraiser on March 29 that raised $7,282.45 - about $3,500 more than originally anticipated!

The "BikeTown Africa Spin-A-Thon" was spearheaded by the club's general manager Christie Heslip and coordinator Ava Howard - with additional help from past fundraiser specialist Christine George. Last year, Christine (a graduate student at Virginia Tech) raised more than $10,000 for the BikeTown Africa program and assisted Kona and the BikeTown crew in Mozambique where they built about 200 AfricaBikes for home healthcare workers.

More than 70 eager participants spun at the Spin-A-Thon for the four hour long cycle class. Teams of cyclists paid $100 and individuals $50 to take part in the "suffer fest" - with local sponsors providing fundraising incentives to boost the overall donation total. The event inspired the entire Blacksburg community.

We can't thank you enough for your efforts in helping the cause. For a letter from the folks in Blacksburg, CLICK HERE.

The AfricaBike And All Its Glory...

Check out the rave review from Road.cc about the Kona AfricaBike. Not only extremely functional in rural AfricaBike, but everywhere from San Diego to Sydney.

CHECK HERE to read all about it. 

 

Ride Bikes And Eat Donuts

Yes, that's all you have to do at the second annual Tour de Donut bike race in American Fork, Utah.

This year's Tour de Donut race takes place on July 11 and all proceeds will benefit the Kona BikeTown Africa program. It's pretty simple: get on your bike and pedal a total of 21 miles along easy to moderate terrain. Organized in circuit style, after the first seven miles you try and eat as many donuts as you can keep down. Saddle your bike again and ride another seven miles and eat more donuts. Then, hop on your bike for th last seven miles to the finish. For each donut eaten, take three minutes off your time. Want in?

Last year the event attracted more than 250 riders who consumed more than 1,000 donuts. Projections for this year look to be greater.

To get involved CLICK HERE.