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31 · Thursday, April 15, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Riding to raise orphans By Lindsey Barron SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER All it took was time, energy and motivation for participants in the third annual Ride for Rafiki to raise enough funds to continue to support children in East Africa for another year. During the seven-hour indoor ride on Sunday, April 11, more than 100 riders dropped off their pledges and spun their wheels to upbeat tunes in support of Rafiki, a centre for orphaned children in Tanzania started by Oakville resident Catherine Mulvale. The ride is organized each year by Mulvale and her long-time friend and cyclist, Adam Scott. This year, it was held at Revolution Fitness on 1011 Upper Middle Rd., "My favourite part of fundraisers like this is watching other people discover what they can do. I don't think people realize that by riding a bike for an hour you can change somebody's life -- forever," said Mulvale. This year, friends, family and cycling enthusiasts donated almost $20,000 to Rafiki, which means "friend" in Swahili. Since 2007, the fundraiser has generated $60,000 to help the centre nurture the lives of the children and the caregivers it serves. Mulvale, who runs the Canadian Digestive Health Foundation and her own company, Dynamite Design, also founded Strategies for LIFE that runs the Rafiki program. She has partnered with numerous companies and nonprofit organizations such as RonaLansing, Penalta Group and The People Bridge Foundation to provide more than just food for the children and their primary caregivers, which costs $16,000 a year. They have given Rafiki a well, playground, library and materials, including sewing machines and bedding. The centre that Mulvale helped to start in 2007 has been called "a beacon of hope" in the otherwise desperate and impoverished area of Tanzania that this group of children live in. When she first visited the children and their surrogate parents/primary caregivers, John and Maxima, their situation was bleak. "There were 17 girls sleeping on a broken 10x10 concrete floor with no blankets or pillows, with a bucket of dirty water to drink. I thought, what am I going to do, and what have I gotten myself into?" Mulvale said. Her determination and courage has created a future for these children that can only continue to flourish. The government in Tanzania, in recognition of the progress and potential sustainability of Rafiki, has recently given it 2,000 acres of land to use. With the introduction of the well, which produces 16,000 litres of fresh water per hour, the agricultural possibilities are endless. All of this is with the intention to walk away, and Mulvale's goal is to have Rafiki self-sustainable, and valued by the surrounding communities, by 2012. In addition to the materials and financial support she has provided, she has also helped Rafiki's supporters in Tanzania come up with sustainable business plans and a bartering system. "They're very resourceful. I think there's a misconception that there's an intellectual gap between us and them. The innovation and the willingness to help each other that I've seen makes me shake my head in awe and think why don't we all just do this?" she said. See Planning page 32 GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER INSPIRING: Ride for Rafiki was held Sunday at Revolution Fitness. The annual spinning event supports Rafiki, an orphanage and school that cares for 35 children in Tanzania,East Africa. Here, Julie Wallace ,foreground and Jacqui Campbell spin to music.