On August 1, 2016, 10 young East Africans were flagged off in Kampala on a mission to cycle nearly 3,000km through Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya for over a month, on a gruelling tour to preach regional unity to the public under the banner of the East African Community.

The EAC Secretariat has in the past held public meetings and roadshows across the member states to foster integration but this was the first non-government initiative geared towards the realisation of the EAC’s unity dream.

The cyclists, 9 young men and one woman between the ages of 21 and 34, were all members of the Ugandan adventure youth group, Campfire Logs Guild.

They were in a group of 12, the other two did not cycle but were in charge of planning and finance person and manning the tour vehicle. They cycled 2,882km, a circuit that took them from Kampala, Busia border post, Nairobi, Namanga border post, Arusha, Bujumbura, Kigali and back to Kampala on a budget of only Ush600,000 ($180).

Initially, the group had come up with a budget of Ush360 million ($107,627). But after getting no corporate or government sponsorship, they revised it down to Ush40 million ($11,958) which was just enough to scrape by through the tour.

“We visited various ministries, talked to private companies, but nobody believed in us. We left Kampala with only Ush600,000. How we survived, don’t ask. We slept on verandas, in police stations, under trees, but we’ve made it,” said John Balongo, the Campfire Logs Guild director, on September 3, upon returning to Kampala.

For 32 days, they cycled, sometimes on empty stomachs. They got robbed and suffered from malaria; they survived road accidents, slept in the open braving freezing nights in the Kenyan Rift Valley region; experienced hours-long immigration hold-ups at border posts and inquisitive looks from local people, sometimes hostile.

Of course, the money they raised was peanuts, and to make matters worse, their first aid kit contained no more than a few painkillers. However, whatever they lacked in material things, they compensated with determination, which on September 3 saw them finish an epic East African bicycle tour dubbed “Tour d’EAC.”

In cycling Kigali: During stopovers in towns and villages, the cyclists took time to bond with the local community, talking about the integration of EAC its social and economic benefits, while also experiencing different cultures, having fun and taking part in community programmes like they did during Umuganda in Rwanda. PHOTO | CAMPFIRE LOGS GUILD

Before they left Kampala, two cyclists needed yellow fever shots, which cost Ush120,000 ($35.8). Two other cyclists didn’t have passports and temporary travel documents had to be applied and paid for, leaving the group with less than Ush300,000 ($90).

Beating the odds

The adventure was not short on mental and physical tests, the first of which would come on day two when the team was still in Uganda, camping overnight at the Busia border post.

“On our second day, we were robbed at the Busia border. We lost two bikes, travel documents and bags. At that point, we feared the expedition was off but we dusted ourselves off and resolved to ride on. We started this tour with the objective of changing the perception of the people of East Africa,” said tour captain Crispus Byaruhanga.

The robbery served the youths as a rude sample of the setbacks that awaited them on the expedition. It forced them to delay their trip as they waited for replacement bikes from Kampala. They were passionate enough to beat the odds.

“The winning horse in the Kentucky derby wins with its last breath,” said Balongo, the Campfire Logs Guild director. “We would have called off the tour when we failed to raise funds, but we had promised the world that we would do it. Robberies were expected. They were not going to stop us.”

But there were more setbacks. The bikes often broke down and had to be repaired; the money was not enough to feed and buy drinking water for the cyclists. “We fasted for four days in Tanzania because we didn’t have money. So we planned to have only one meal a day,” said Balongo.

Then came the language barrier. Kiswahili is not Ugandans’ cup of tea. For example, in Tanzania, the group was looking for a safe place to spend the night and the team captain was directed to go to “mwenyekiti.” So they cycled on looking for a town called “mwenyekiti.” Little did they know that “mwenyekiti” meant chairperson. They were to look for the village chairperson who would have assisted them with their accommodation inquiries.

Flagging-off

During the flagging-off ceremony in Kampala, one government official was embarrassed by the lack of support from the government and said the notice was short but promised that sponsorship “next year will be massive.”

With such limited funds, the team was forced to get creative by multitasking. For instance, Bonney Sekitoleko had to double up as “team doctor” and was always at hand to administer first aid in case of an accident. Sekitoleko is not even a qualified nurse and only holds a basic certificate in first aid, but he “handled all emergencies very well.” 

One of these emergencies came after the group had gone past Singida in Tanzania. Major Mubiru fell off his bike and had to be treated for cuts and bruises. Sekitoleko too had his share of misery when he hit a pothole and his bike’s rear wheel got twisted.

While descending Bugarama hills in Burundi, Maureen Kwagala — the only female cyclist in the group — hit a motorcycle, and she was thrown off her bike and suffered a few cuts, which the “team doctor” took care of.

Thankfully, most of the cyclists were resilient former scouts and not easily intimidated by such incidents.

“After an accident, you get back on the bike and ride. It’s part of the game,” said trainer and route designer Ibrahim Nsubuga.

However, the most challenging emergency was when the team suffered a malaria epidemic of their own. One after the other, the cyclists fell ill. But they soldiered on.

“Everyone knew that a bicycle was the only means of transport. We would take medication, sleep and then start off again,” explains Balongo.

Freezing night

After the robbery at Busia, the team agreed that they would henceforth camp for the night at police stations for security reasons. In Gilgil town in Kenya, about 150km west of Nairobi, the police were as unwelcoming as were the near freezing night temperatures.

“The police chased us, threatening to teargas us and arrest me being the leader, because I told them the station was the only safe place we could take refuge in, and we were not going anywhere else unless the police came with us for protection,” said Balongo.

That night, the team spent the freezing night on the veranda of the building opposite the police station. “We asked for a ‘sigiri’ [charcoal stove] from a nearby shop to warm ourselves, but it didn’t help,” said Balongo.

“We reckoned the temperatures must have dropped to almost five degrees Celsius or less. We were not far off in our estimation because according to worldweatheronline.com, the lowest temperature recorded in early August in Gilgil was nine degrees Celsius. We could not touch anything. Our bodies were freezing, and teeth chattering,” said Balongo.

The following day, the officer in charge of the Gilgil police station was told about a group of cyclists from Uganda who were a nuisance, and had come asking for shelter at the police station the previous night. The police chief sought them out and apologised, saying she had not been informed of the incident.

The route

From the Ugandan capital Kampala, the cyclists headed eastwards and the first night camped in Jinja, 80km east of Kampala. On day two, the cyclists rode to Busia, on the Uganda-Kenya border, where they spent a second night. 

The Kenyan leg of the tour took seven days to cover through Kisumu, Kericho, the Rift Valley towns of Nakuru, Gilgil, Naivasha and on to Nairobi, before heading southwards, crossing the River Athi and onto the highway to the Namanga border post, crossing into Tanzania and to the EAC headquarters in Arusha, where East African Legislative Assembly Speaker Daniel Kidega, who is also the Guild’s patron, received and hosted the group on August 10.

Nairobi leg: An official of Kenya’s Ministry of East African Affairs flags off the group of Ugandan cyclists on a mission to sell integration to the public around the region. PHOTO | CAMPFIRE LOGS GUILD

From Arusha, the team rode to Babati, covering 186km, the longest distance in a single day.

“We had rested enough in Arusha, so we left very early at 6am and arrived in Babati at 6pm. Besides, I had received some money from a friend in the UK, so we had a good breakfast and started our journey when we were strong,” said Balongo.

With a limited budget, good meals were few and far between. Breakfast was always tea with chapati, lunch and dinner were mainly ugali and beans – not the ideal combo for most Ugandans.

Cycling the often desolate plains of Tanzania through Singida, Kahama and Ngozi was arduous.

Border crossing

Luckily, from Arusha, the group enlisted two Tanzanian riders, Salmin and Bernard, who cycled with them for the next 10 days, and helped with the language and terrain, and were determined to cycle back to Kampala with the team.

“We had some difficulties entering Burundi from Tanzania. The Tanzanian cyclists were denied entry because they didn’t have passports. They only had their national identity cards, which we thought were sufficient,” Balongo said.

Indeed, Kenyans, Ugandans and Rwandans can now cross each others borders with nothing more than a national identity card. The EAC foresees a future where one’s national ID is sufficient to enable a citizen of the Community to travel between the five partner states. But as the old English saying goes, the taste of the pudding is in the eating — you won’t know the practicality of regional integration procedures until you have to go through them.

The group spent four hours at the Kabanga border, negotiating with immigration officials without success.

At this point, the Tanzanian cyclists had Tsh1,500 between them, while Campfire Logs Guild was left with only Tsh20,000. Transport from Kabanga to Arusha is Tsh60,000. With no money, the Tanzanians had one option – to cycle for 10 days back to Arusha.

“Out of our Tsh20,000, we gave them half, got them a long-distance truck to drop them along the way and advised them to hitch hike on trucks the rest of the way,” said Balongo.

No knowledge of EAC flag or anthem

Despite the immigration hold-up at Kabanga, the cyclists say Burundi and Rwanda are a cut above the rest of the EAC member states. The two only acceded to the EAC Treaty in 2007 but gave the cyclists a warm receptions in Bujumbura and Kigali.

It also turns out that people who interacted with the cyclists in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania could neither recognise the EAC flag nor sing the EAC anthem.  

During stopovers in towns and villages, the cyclists took time to bond with the local community, talking about the integration of EAC and the social and economic benefits of regional integration, while also experiencing different cultures, having fun and taking part in community programmes like they did during Umuganda in Rwanda.

The cyclists’ adventure has provided food for thought to EAC governments, with some officials conceding that regional integration is best achieved when citizens own the programmes.

“Integration is for the citizens. Let’s involve them. It’s a shame that we talk about integration when people at the borders don’t even recognise the EAC flag,” said Jean Bosco Barege, the Burundi ambassador to Uganda.

While EAC integration has been sold as “a people-centred, private-sector led” process, it is government bureaucrats who have done all the talking and selling of the integration agenda, at times making decisions that are far removed from the desires of the average EAC citizen.

The bicycle tour is expected to be an annual event.

The cyclists

• John Balongo, 32, chief of expedition and director at Campfire.
• Maureen Nakajja Kwagala, 21, a cosmetologist by training.
• Ibrahim Nsubuga, 26, Certified in computer repair and maintenance, who paints for a living.
• Bonney Sekitoleko, 23, a cosmetologist.
• Crispus Byaruhanga, 25, a commercial farmer. He was the team captain.
• Conrad Ahimbisibwe, 31, a telecommunications engineer, he manned the service car.
• Asaph Kasujja, 25, a videographer and one of the best drone pilots in Uganda.
• Remmy Bukenya Jr, 22, a plumber by profession.
• Ivan Lwanga, 22, a professional footballer who is currently club less.
• Kato Abdul Mugerwa, 22, a professional cyclist.
• Abdu Majid Mubiru, 21.
• Victoria Ayikoru, 23, a social worker, researcher and model. She did not cycle. She was in charge of planning and finance.