I have often found myself watching ads touting the impact that a few dollars has around the world. Stories of how $0.50 can feed a child for a day or $2 can send someone to school for a week. And this isn't even on my mind when I order my morning coffees that could pay for a week's worth of meals or a month's worth of school. Preparing for a bikepacking trip around East Africa has me preparing for a proper adventure and brought to mind the impact that this money would have if it were a donation instead of an expense. What if the trip was a way to amplify the support and understanding of East Africa instead of a memorable trip for one? Could it be an impactful trip from many for many?

The choice to travel in East Africa (Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania) came from a casual conversation with the iconic Timo Mallard. Having heard of his Peace Corps stories of directly serving communities in Ethiopia, I was unsurprised by the celebration of his Fulbright Award to support rural maternal health in Uganda. I was surprised by his retort to my original bikepacking in Europe trip with "but when are you going to have a friend in Uganda?" This got the two of us thinking about how we could ride together and support the needs of each community. How could we come not as experts, but as students and supporters. The two of us have learned on our path to medical school that the members of the community are those that know the needs of the community best. We found ourselves with the dream to be able to directly support the health needs that we could come across in our travels, not by brining mosquito nets or medications to each house we passed, but by bringing the funds for people to access the services that they need.

Often we think of health care as trips to the doctor, surgeries, or new medicines. In practice public health comes to say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. By providing the immediate needs to a group there is the potential to avoid health services all together. The hope is that the funds to purchase a new plow can help avoid chronic back pain, or a new sign for a clinic can ensure that community members learn about preventive care options. There is precedent for this with microloans, and our hope is that we can take this practice a step further with 'microgrants' of sorts and be able to provide these by bike.

Over the months of May, June, and July I'll be biking roughly 1800 miles around Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania with riding partners as remarkable as Timo Mallard, a dear friend and bike grant mastermind, and Juniper Hobson, bikepacker extraordinaire and my better half. The average yearly salary in Africa is roughly $9074. Our goal is to raise $5.04 dollars per mile and distribute this through our journey across a continent that will serve as a much-needed teacher.

So, would you give two things?

First, tell this story to two folks that you know and share with them who I am and why this work matters.

Second, would you give a penny per mile? This $0.01 contribution would be $18 dollars for the 1800 miles, three countries, and 110,554 vertical feet of climbing (about 4 times Mount Everest)!!

This contribution will make the world of a difference. In times like these this is an opportunity to give to a world away.

Please keep in touch and continue to share this story along with the pictures and videos that will surely accompany this epic adventure. Find me on Instagram: @patcpayne

Take a look at the route on RideWithGPS: Not From Around Here - Roundabout East Africa Route · Ride with GPS