Ride for Rwanda!

Hey, y'all! Some of my well-informed local readers may know that I am participating in this Saturday's super-exciting first-ever Ride For Rwanda around my hometown of Durham. I didn't feel like it was necessary to post about here since 0% of my readers actually live in Durham, however it has come to light that a similar event is being staged in Washington, DC, later this month. And I do know that 64% of my readership lives in the DC metro area, and 87% of those folks enjoying riding bikes and 100% of them appreciate worthwhile causes.

So, you ask, what worthwhile cause is this event going to benefit? Why, I'm glad you asked: it will benefit Bikes to Rwanda! According the site linked in the previous sentence, "Bikes To Rwanda’s aim is to provide cargo bicycles to co-operative coffee farmers in Rwanda. The goal is to improve quality of life in these communities through a bike workshop and maintenance program that provides transportation resources for basic needs and enhances production of quality coffee." I couldn't have said it better myself!

You don't need me to tell you that Rwanda had been the setting of a gruesome genocide in recent memory, and its citizens are still struggling to rebuild their economy and infrastructure in the wake of the devastation. So while one's first response to this might be "Bikes for farmers? Big deal!" but what we are doing is more than just sending people money, we are helping them become active, quality-driven participants in the global economy. Have you, by any chance, noticed the influx of high-quality Rwandan coffee to the marketplace in the past few years? (And I mean very few years, you couldn't find a decent bean coming out of the country as recently as five or six years ago.) Also, automotive transportation is not an option for these folks, so it's either the bikes or their backs. As if farming wasn't hard labor to begin with.

I realize that this has nothing to do with knitting, but I figured I would put the word out there since so many of my readers actually have other stuff floating around their heads that also have nothing to do with knitting. And if you can't Ride For Rwanda this month, maybe you'll at least keep your ear to the ground for future events, or at least throw some change into the next Coffee Kids donation box you see. (Yeah I like Coffee Kids, too, they're a great organization.)

p.s. there will be free Locopops for riders!!