CLEMENT DEANE

Ever felt like taking up a cause?Are you willing to hop onto amotorcycle and ride

15 000km in searing heat to raiseawareness for education? If so,you’d better consult the De Waalfamily on how to survive a tripthrough Africa – in this caseUganda – while highlighting theimportance of education in SA.

Gerhard, 53, Oscar, 50, andOscar’s son, Rosca de Waal, 20,from Melkbosstrand were part of afour-man motorcycle team whichrode to Uganda and back in sup-port of Quality Education for SouthAfrica, a project run by Symphonia,a non-profit organisation whichhelps empower teachers to improvethe standard of education.

The trio were accompanied byPeter Pretorius, who is originallyfrom Cape Town, but who hasbeen working in Uganda for threeyears.

They left for Uganda on Mon-day December 10 with motorbikes

they had to modify for the harshterrain.

Brothers Gerhard and Oscar saythe potholes most folk complainabout are minor annoyances com-pared to the crevices they negoti-ated along with squalls of rain,energy-sapping heat, scarce rationsand breakdowns – all in the nameof quality education.

Oscar found his passion for edu-cation seven years ago when hehelped build a pre-primary schoolin Klipheuwel and saw the benefitsearly childhood development canhave on a community.

“There seems to be a lack of con-fidence or pride among our young-sters in SA. Whenever we saw achild down and out in Mozam-bique, for example, you could waveat them and they would wave back.Over here, it’s like they look back to

see if you’re waving at someoneelse. We need to change that mind-set,” says Oscar.

Oscar and Gerhard grew upwith motorbikes and they’re usedto long distances. In 2011, they theydid a 7 000km tour of SA, Namibiaand Botswana.

Eight months ago, they boughtmotorbikes that would handleAfrica’s rugged terrain, and modi-fied them to handle whatever thecontinent threw at them.

They installed higher qualitychains, sprockets, added crash bars,luggage racks as well as extra fueland water tanks for their trip. Thenthey tried to prepare themselvesmentally for Africa in the rainy sea-son. But nothing could really pre-pare them for what was waiting.

“It was raining so much, you justsaw water everywhere. There weretimes we couldn’t see the road sowhen a car came past we’d follow itinstead,” says Gerhard.

When they weren’t wet, theywere baking. They rode through48 degree heat in Tanzania.

Finding clean water was a chal-lenge and they often had to buybottled water.

Because they couldn’t keeplarge amounts of food with them,the De Waals had to stop at smallshops for food – usually comingaway with potato chips and water tokeep their salt and hydration levels

up. They got used to eating once aday, sometimes having only boiledeggs for a meal.

Gerhard’s shock absorber brokeafter a rough Christmas Eve ride inTanzania. When his bike hit abump – and they weren’t in shortsupply – the back of his bikebounced up and down making itdifficult to steer. They had to rideslowly. Fortunately, they hadordered a suitcase of spare partswhich was waiting in Uganda.

This meant they had to spendChristmas in Tanzania, which was-n’t necessarily a bad experiencebecause they got to learn a bit moreabout other African cultures.

“The people are content. Youdon’t get the feeling that a man onhis bike is unhappy because hedoesn’t have a car. Petrol is alsoquite pricey, like in Rwanda, whereyou paid R20 a litre, so they wouldoften walk or cycle to get around.

“People also used their availableland, like backyards, to grow food.It’s not always exciting stuff, but

with all their movement andhealthy food, there were hardly anyoverweight people around,” saysOscar.

When they left Uganda andheaded south towards Mozam-bique, they were greeted by veryfriendly people in Rwanda andMalawi – a sharp contrast to theMozambican officials, many ofwhom tried every trick in the bookto solicit a bribe from them.

The roads and bridges had alsosuffered terribly from downpoursand flooding which meant they hadto travel through to Swaziland andinto KwaZulu-Natal before makingtheir way back to Cape Town, onSaturday January 19.

Rosca was pleased he no longerhad to snack on chips or boiledeggs during meal time, though, butthey wouldn’t mind taking part ina similar project again.

Gerhard and Oscar say whilethey had hoped their trip raisedenough awareness, they are consid-ering a possible tour of America inaid of Symphonia’s drive toimprove education in SA. For moreinformation, or to donate to thecause, visit www.qe4sa.org

NEWS TabletalkWednesday February 20 201320

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Tabletalk

A bridge too far

Should the City of Cape Town spend R6 million to fix a ricketyold bridge? The Woodbridge Island wooden bridge is 112 yearsold and is in desperate need of repair. It has been closed for

20 years because of its sorry state and not many would be braveenough to risk crossing it. In fact, it was closed when the newer,tarred bridge was opened.

But, residents want to see the wood bridge repaired and re-opened. They are disgusted with the City for leaving it to slowly rot,but the City claims it doesn’t have the money to fix it.

It’s a case of nostalgia versus practicality. Practically, the bridgeshould be demolished if it will cost R6 million to fix. R6 millioncould be spent on food and shelter for the poor, improving trafficservices, fixing roads or boosting other essential services.

If the state of the bridge is tugging at the heart strings of resi-dents, they can raise the funds independently, if indeed they believeit would be money well spent. The bridge probably deserves a make-over but, much like Cape Town Stadium, has come back to hauntthe City’s coffers. Having something pretty but impractical does notserve the community when there is still much work to be done.

The City probably doesn’t want to burn bridges with residents,but perhaps they’re asking a bit much from its limited resources.This could indeed be a bridge too far for the City of Cape Town.

Editorial

Most of us think we’ve supported acause if we buy a T-shirt or slip a rub-ber band on our wrist, the De Waalclan get on their bikes

The road less travelled

It was rainingso much, you

just saw watereverywhere

‘’

■ Air force trainer Pilatus aircraft in a tight formation over Milnerton on Tuesday February 12.

PICTURE: COLIN BROWN

■ The group of South African men travelled toUganda and back on motorbikes to increaseawareness about Symphonia’s drive for bettereducation.They are, from left, Gerard, Rosca andOscar de Waal, and Peter Pretorius.

■ Peter Pretorius and the rest of the biker crew had to catch alift during a river crossing from Tanzania to Mozambique.

■ Some of the routes they took turned out to be more dirtthan road.This is probably when Gerhard’s shock absorbergave out when they were close to Uganda.