Cycling from South Africa to Uganda

By Elizabeth Agiro

SITTING in a Robotics lecture at the University of Minnesota last year, Joel Hesch’s mind drifted to Africa, a time when he and his parents spent eight years in Uganda. During this lecture, Hesch decided he would revisit the Pearl of Africa.

Only this time, he would not arrive by plane but on a bicycle. He would fly to Durban, South Africa, where his missionary parents live, before jumping onto a bicycle and riding all the way to Uganda.

In his journey, Hesch cycled 5,700km across seven countries —South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. This took three months from January 15 to April 10, 2007.

But first, Hesch had to take time off to relax, exercise and explore the plausibility of his idea. After all, cycling takes more than just physical strength. There was the distance to consider, the terrain, the people and several other unknown challenges to mull over.

The physical strength was covered for Hesch trained regularly in basketball, football and racquetball. He also rode a few kilometres daily on his bike to the university.

He tried to plot out the distance and how long it would take. He emailed some people who had done long-distance cycling. While some believed him and were willing to help, others shrugged him off as a joker.

While the negative sentiments should have discouraged him, they instead fuelled his desire to cycle. Thus, the 24-year-old persisted in his research until he found enough information to go by.

However, the enthusiastic Hesch soon found out that biking to university was not the same as biking across African countries where he had to pass over mountains, valleys and rivers. The first three weeks were especially challenging.

Gone was the flat surface back in the states and here was plateau. Next on the torture list was a sore body which rendered him immobile.

There were days when he thought of going back home because there was no one to push him and encourage him on the journey. Despite the solitude, Hesch stuck to his principle and the consolation that the hard days were coming to an end. Shortly after his optimism, he got his hardest hit, typhoid when he drank water from a river.

Normally, Hesch drank water from boreholes, taps or whatever beverage people drank from in a particular area. However, during his ride in Tanzania, Hesch faced a language barrier.

He could not speak Kiswahili and therefore failed to ask for drinking water. He came across a tap from which he drank without the knowledge that the water was pumped directly from the river. Thankfully, he was armed with an anti-bacterial, which saw him through the rough patch.

It was during such low times when Hesch felt like quitting, that he fell back on a quote he attributes to Laila Ali, the boxer.

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion.

Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary... Impossible is nothing.”
Although he did not feel homesick, there were days when Hesch had no water and rode for stretches without meeting people to give him something.

On luckier days, he ate food sold by the roadside —mangoes, bananas, guavas, bread and avocado and also mandazi “but that was too sweet and oily.”

To make the meals as balanced as possible, Hesch stopped at restaurants a few times a week for rice and beans. Occasionally, he cooked noodles on his stove.

Throughout his journey, Hesch had a bathe only a couple of times. Sometimes, he went for as long as a week without a shower and yet, he only had one pair of jeans, biking shorts, a T-shirt and a collared shirt. If he was lucky and reached a friend’s place in three days, then he would have a shower.

At least he had toothpaste and a toothbrush, which he used often. “I didn’t smell so good but most of the times I was by myself and I wasn’t hurting anyone.”

Despite the smelly episodes, Hesch had some wonderful moments like the time he spent on the shores of Lake Malawi. Not only did he enjoy the “beautiful and peaceful scenery”, he also had a change in diet —fish.

The overall high was the journey in itself.
“If you drive and fly, you never see between point A and B. While on a bike, you go through segments of the countryside. You are with people all the time and you can connect, share and talk to them,” he says.

But what changed about Hesch was his perspective of humanity. “I noticed so many people in different places will tell you what to be afraid of; trucks, animals, thieves.

Everyone tries to tell you what to be afraid of and who’s gonna get you. But I didn’t see any of that,” he says adding that all he saw was the hospitality when people offered him food, water and a place to stay.

“They didn’t have to do that.”
However, it was not all good. A few times, he came close to being knocked off the road by cars, which whizzed past him.

There was no biking space in most of the countries he rode through.
After overcoming the challenges, the 5,700km journey taught Hesch that one has got to challenge and test oneself by trying things that they think are insurmountable.

Also, with the opportunity of growing up in different parts of the world, as a result of his parents’ missionary work, he has experienced various cultures.

He was also in a place where he could afford to buy a bike and the equipment.
“I’ve had opportunity in life. What breaks me is when I meet people who have the ability to do something, but don’t make use of it,” he says, adding, “In America, students devote their time to pointless activities.

They just go through the motions of watching TV and playing American football.” “The path of your life is determined by choices you make and those made for you.”