Ride 400 miles for Kakuma

About the project 

FiLiA - a registered charity - has been supporting the women in Block 13 of Kakuma refugee camp for four years. The women are mostly refugees from areas of sub-Saharan Africa affected by conflicts. Few places in the entire region will accept same sex attracted women, because of local cultural prejudices and lesbophobia, and even in Kakuma the women are all housed together in a single block, which makes them easy targets for attacks - they have suffered repeated sexual and physical assaults, arson, and theft, including by agencies that should support them. You can read an interview with some of the women here.

Despite this, they work together to rebuild their lives and raise their children well.

Why I have chosen Kakuma Women 

I first became aware of the women through a video presented at FiLiA in Cardiff in 2022. I will be quite honest - I didn’t really understand what a huge project it was, or how much those women needed us. Amidst so much suffering among women, it was just another thing.

My awareness deepened in 2023, though, when I helped to organise an exhibition of art produced by the women and their children at FiLiA Glasgow. Their messages were uplifting - in spite of all the difficulties they faced, the women were looking to the future. There was something very special about their powerful resolve to make life not just bearable but fulfilling. 

We all only get one life, and the women of Kakuma were determined to make the best of it, for themselves and their families. I was moved by that and made up my mind that, as there was no FiLiA in 2024, I would do something to help them.

Why Kakuma Women need your help

Although they are admitted to the camp, it is no safe haven. The women experience prejudice there, including attacks as a result of which many of them, and their families, have lost their few possessions and shelter; they find it harder to get food rations and are very vulnerable. Many want to leave, but the locations of safe places are far away, and have to be kept under wraps.

Some women are also seeking asylum in other countries, and some have already been successful. This part of FiLiA’s work is very important to me, because it is the best immediately available solution. These women are no different to you and me. They didn’t want to be in this situation.

The children also need support and education to help lift them out of the hardships and have a future.

Most importantly, the camp no longer officially exists as a camp. Food has to be bought, heating and fuel paid for. But the prejudice the women experience makes it almost impossible for them to earn.

Supporting this effort is costly, running to well over £1000 each month. It sounds a lot, but there are a lot of women, and their children, to support, so it really is a tiny sum for each woman supported.  

What I am doing

I am going to ride 400 miles to raise money for this project.

I have been a fairly keen cyclist for a couple of years, since I had to give up running following injury. My original plan was to ride across Britain, from my mum in Durham to our home in Somerset, in 10 days. However, my mum was in conniptions worrying, an impending grandchild means I really don’t want to be away from home for a fortnight, and in any case, the logistics of that trip - the kit I needed, the fare to the starting point, accommodation and so on - would have cost several hundred pounds. I would far rather give that money to the project, and I will.

And so I decided to commit to the same length of ride, but locally, and across the month. It’s still a fairly tall order because the days are short and the weather uncertain, and I’ll have to ride about 30 miles every other day to make the distance - no joke at the age of 60! But with your support, I think I can do it.

If the weather makes it unsafe to ride, I’ll hook my bike up to the turbotrainer and ride that way. I hate my turbotrainer, so that’s love ❤️ 

Along the way I hope to see interesting things and take photographs and I will put updates out and a running total of my miles (and how much I’ve climbed!). For reasons of security, obviously I won’t publish my routes as I’ll always start from home, but I will try to give as much information as I can.

Why give now? 

Times are hard. I know we are all feeling the pinch. But the women in the Kakuma camp are some of the most vulnerable people in the world. It is pure luck that I have my life, and the freedom to do this, and you have yours, not theirs.

So even in this difficult time, when there are so many things we can’t do and so much that is out of our own control, we can do this thing. A few pounds can make a real difference, so please, give if you can.