Angola

I first came to Angola is 2008, for a holiday/fact finding trip. I was only shown the most attractive locations, holiday houses on the island of Mussulo, a lovely nightclub dressed all in white to bring in the new year and the most expensive lunch I ever ate - about one hundred dollars for three of us. You could definitely surmise that I left with a very lopsided view.

Coming back in 2010 to live has proved a completely different affair. First off, Luanda has been consistently one of the most expensive cities in the world for the last few years. Add to this being a complete beginner in Portuguese and not knowing where anything is (Angolans mark a location by the nearest bank or other point of interest) and you can only imagine how difficult those first three months were. I could tell you stories about forming a music school at the most prestigious recording studios in the the country, my encounters with people deeply involved in the Paradise Papers scandal, getting heavily involved in the local music scene and the newly emerging comedy circuit or berating countless police officers for asking for bribes, but this story is not really about me.

OK! I lied! It starts with me. Let me get to the point. I have always loved bicycles. Deciding to buy a bicycle was a big decision for me. The roads are quite chaotic! But I never regretted the decision. Anyway, some idiots broke into my storage facility and I spent exactly one year without. Then I bought a lovely bike from one of my musical colleagues.

Sao Silvestre

The Sao Silvestre is a 10 kilometre international road race that takes place on my birthday (the last day of the year), here in Luanda. A couple of years ago I decided to follow the race on my bicycle. There were about 10 or 15 of us who gave a decent interval and then followed, only to encounter a police blockade who proceeded to take our bicycles to the police impound, promising to give them back at the end of the race. Being keen to get a little exercise I decided to run the race, unofficially and with no training and no warm up and about twenty minutes after everybody else. Coming up the very steep 1 kilometre long hill climb I found a very old gentleman and his running buddy so I was no longer dead last. It turned out that 10 kilometers in the afternoon heat is actually quite physically challenging, even with thousands of Angolans cheering one on. Last year I ran as an Arab, in a full length suit with a headscarf. I am not exaggerating when I say that I had an ambulance keeping me company. I am sure they were taking bets as to far I would get before I fainted. But I am made of stern stuff and with a couple of marriage proposals to keep me going I finished in a very respectable 1 hour and 20 minutes. I was the only fancy dressed competitor.

This year I will either run in a full dinner suit or, if I can manage it, in a spiderman costume. My preference is to run as spiderman but I have still to purchase and DHL it from the UK.

Why Bicycles

Anyway, I thought to myself, that, while I am making a fool of myself, I might as well try setting up something for charity. Let me give you a couple of ideas that I considered worthwhile. First of all, I know an orphanage in Palanca (behind the Shoprite that burnt down a few years ago but that they rebuilt) which urgently needs a proper water supply. But then, the group that set it up spent near one hundred thousand dollars on the state of the art music studio (inside the orphanage) so I figured that, if they really cared about the orphans they would fix the water situation them selves. Don't get me wrong, they do a huge amount of good for the street kids. Out reach programs and street music lessons just to name two! They also feed and help to take care of the kids as well as providing schooling. I guess its just one of those incongruities of life. Then I thought about the state of the hospitals here. But that takes me deep into government territory, and that is, for me a guest in this country, no mans land. So, bicycles it is. Helmets. Inner tubes and tyres. Tools and accesories. Helmets. Go Pro so that we can film how unbelievably inconsiderate Angolan drivers are. But there is a financial reason for it to. Just recently Angola's financial situation nose dived. Think Venezuela but with no international media coverage. The price of taxis went up and a huge percentage of the population pay up to 50% of their wages just on transport. The thought of being able to alleviate that situation just a little bit...! People that walk into town from Cazenga, reportedly the most densely populated district in the country. In fact, I did that same journey on foot today, pushing my bike because I got a flat tyre! A reasonable fit person save a huge amount of money riding a bike.

So thats what the money is for. Pay for a shipping container. About a thousand pounds. Fill it with all sorts of bikes. Good sturdy mountain bikes. We could create an economy! I've just realised. That taxi money would now be spent on bike technicians. We already have a few. I wonder how many bikes I could to Angola with twenty thousand pounds.

I wonder how long it will take me to run 10k as spiderman. Photos coming soon of me as an Arab...