He returned to Kenya on Thursday after a trip from the top to the bottom of Africa on a bicycle. He was worn out and fatigued, yet upbeat.
Ian Mwangi had, for two months, ridden from Cairo in Egypt to Cape Town in South Africa to raise school fees for bright students from poor backgrounds. The trip ended in Cape Town three hours before January 1 set in.
The ride, which took him through seven countries, is the longest ride in his life yet.
When he returned home through the Namanga border, business came to a standstill as a band from Starehe Boys School performed in his honour. The band drew crowds as it escorted him along the Namanga-Kajiado road as it played renditions of, among other songs, “Amukira Ngatho”, a popular Kikuyu gospel song by Ruth Wamuyu, which is used in thanksgiving ceremonies.
Why Starehe Boys? Well, Mwangi, a graphics and web designer, is an old boy of the institution.
Meet Ian Mwangi, man cycling from Egypt to South Africa to raise Sh100m to educate students
“We are thanking God for having our old boy back after cycling across Africa. We cannot thank Mr Mwangi enough for going out of his way to keep students from poor backgrounds in school. He has inspired us to work hard in school,” the band leader Moses Kamuyu told Lifestyle.
“The fact that I have returned home does not mean the campaign has ended. The campaign is still on,” he said as he recounted the highs and lows of the epic ride which took him 61 days.
The Sh100 million target will enable 50 boys and 50 girls study for free at the Starehe Boys School and the Starehe Girls School.
A graphics and web designer who is passionate about adventure and uplifting the underprivileged through education, Mwangi was in high spirits when he set out on the 10,800-kilometre journey on November 1, 2024 on his bike, which he nicknamed Stacy Black.
The speed depended on the terrain, wind and level of fatigue. A key part of the campaign was celebrating his daily milestones on social media through publishing memes, photos, videos and texts as well as sharing the intrigues of the journey to thousands of his online fans while at the same time appealing for financial support by publishing PayBill 717171 and Account 500in24, an account registered under the Griffins Memorial Endowment Trust, the lifeline of Starehe schools.
Instead of cutting cake to celebrate his birthday on December 18, he took roasted maize just outside Lusaka in Zambia. As Kenyans made merry during the Christmas festivities, Mwangi was navigating through Botswana after pedalling through Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia earlier that month.
“The highlight of the cycling experience was a night I cycled through a herd of elephants which lined the road in Botswana. The experience was as thrilling as it was spooky. I could not tell what the beasts could do to me. Surprisingly, they were friendly,” he said.
Telling from the stories he has published on social media, the Egypt-Kenya leg was the most challenging for Mwangi. Apart from enduring extreme weather and wind as well as harassment by the police in Egypt, he confronted serious safety and security threats as he cycled through the Northern Ethiopia stretch which is dominated by the Oromo community.
Afraid of being kidnapped, he had to move fast, and was forced to cycle from Nairobi to Mombasa and back to recover some 1,000 kilometers he skipped in Sudan due to insecurity concerns.
Whenever he thought of giving up, Mwangi pushed the idea aside, determined to ensure the success of his initiative.
“Every cycling experience on the road essentially was a lesson by itself. Sometimes you reach a point and you think you have got to the end of the road. But then you get to that end and realise there is another end to that end. It got to a point towards the end where it was one pedal after the next. The only thing I kept telling myself was: just keep pushing. Keep pedalling. Just do not stop. If you have to, rest but do not stop,” he says and adds,
“It is the same thing with life. Just keep pushing. Sometimes it may not make sense. Sometimes it does not seem to work. Do not stop. Just keep pushing. The next big thing is probably after that point where you saw as your end,” he said.
Mwangi’s bicycle ride is part of a set of charity events organised by Old Starehian Society, an association of old Starehe Boys School students, to give back to the society. Starehe Boys School and Starehe Girls School depend on donors and self-sponsored students to meet their financial obligations.
To cushion the schools from the risks associated with overreliance on donors, the schools have created The Griffin Memorial Endowment Trust where the proceeds of the charity events are invested. Through the Old Starehian Society, the schools also organise dinners where a plate goes for either Sh1 million or Sh500,000, as well as golf matches.
“The money collected from the various charity initiatives is invested in a trust where it earns interest. The Starehe schools live off the interest. It takes Sh1 million to support a student at the Starehe schools forever,” said Justice Nzioki Makau, a judge of the Employment and Labour Relations Court and the president of the Old Starehian Society as he commended Mr Mwangi.
“When we were leaving, (Starehe Boys School director Geoffrey) Griffins told us that when we have an opportunity, we should make it possible for others to enjoy the same benefits we had enjoyed. The idea is to have the Starehe schools have all the places it offers secured in perpetuity. We prefer if everyone who joined the Starehe schools is covered and taken care of in perpetuity regardless of their circumstance and background. That is why we have embarked on charitable activities. We believe that when you lift someone from poverty through education you change a whole family and the community,” Justice Makau told Lifestyle.
