Wednesday, June 11

Different Dimensions on How others Live

This is an excerpt from an email Maureen Kunz sent out. She is a fellow rookie MTB Pro and completely tearing it up! She has taken some time to go work in Rwanda, and here is a bit of what she is up to: (She is the one in BLUE)



Hi friends!
I am writing to say hello from Rwanda! I came here a week ago to help with Project Rwanda and the Coffee Bike Project. Coffee is Rwandaʼs only true export, and independent coffee farmers are helping to turn this countryʼs economy around in the aftermath of the genocide.

The goal of the Coffee Bike Project is to help Rwanda by helping its farmers. Mountain bike legend Tom Ritchey designed special coffee bikes made to carry extremely large loads of raw coffee beans to the washing stations. The bikes offer faster means to transport fresh coffee cherries to buyers, allowing the farmers to generate a much larger profit. The bikes are distributed among the independent farmers through a micro-loan system.

I am here with five others from UC-Berkeley. We've been building up donated bikes, visiting bike shops, and teaching Rwandans how to maintain their new bikes. We have also had some time to travel the country and see its beauty. We went on a safari and saw zebras, baboons, hippos, an elephant, and lots of cool birds. We also traveled to the volcanoes in the western part of the country, along with the massive Lake Kivu. We spend most of our time in Kigali, the capital. It has a lot of people, cars, motorbikes and black exhaust that stinks.

Check her groups Blog here:
The Bears in Rwanda Blog
Check out her teams blog here:
Team Lost Coast Brewery

2 comments:

Julene said...

That's awesome...I think everyone who lives in the sweet Western lifestyle should experience life in the 3rd world at least ONCE! I believe it would change us and the way we live!

Team Lost Coast Brewery said...

Thanks for the props Joy! I'm super impressed by Mo, she's crazy and awesome, kind of like you :)
You heading to the East Coast for the upcoming races?
_emma