Turning Pedals Changing Lifes:
Cycle to Uganda Expedition 2009

To raise the profile of the Clean Sheet Foundation we have cycled from Hartpury College in Gloucestershire to a School rebuilding project near Gulu in Northern Uganda.

The Cycle to Uganda Expedition the project aims were:

• To help the orphaned pupils at the school sustain and support themselves.
• To help the students have a stable education.
• To create a farm to enable the students to feed themselves.
• To teach life skills to the students this can be used to support them for the long term.
• Create a self reliance on their farm and acquired skills and not Aid.
• To create links with a college specialising in agriculture in the UK and to support students from the UK to work on the farm for the next 3 years.

Our project was managed on the ground by a specialist charity, African Revival, who ensured prudence and the audited use of funds, and this in turn will ensure the long term survival of the initiative.

The initiative was also supported in the UK by the agricultural depart of the Hartpury College, part of the University of the West of England who have partnered with us to ensure that the farm is sustainable and environmentally sound.

The event entails cycling from Hartpury College through southern England, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Hungry, Serbia, Macedonia and Greece then a short hop into Africa avoiding politically unstable countries of Sudan and Chad and then cycling from Nairobi in Kenya to Koch Goma near Gulu arriving on or around the 7th October.

The total distance is of the order of 3,000 miles and the whole of the route was cycled by Nick Bevan. The distances involved can only really be appreciated by the looking at the map below.

600 mile long legs of the cycle were sold off to people who were prepared to raise £5,000 towards our charity.

Steven Jones, one of the trustees, kindly committed to match funding up to a maxium of £50k for sponsorship raised as part of the cycle ride.