Bicycles for Humanity and the Safari Simbaz

It takes the heart of a Lion/Simba to win the tour and truly make a difference.

In July, millions of cycling fans will tune in to watch the 104th Tour de France as Team SKY (UK) rider Chris Froome attempts to win his third yellow jersey in a row, and the fourth one of his illustrious career.

It’s a great time to celebrate many stories involved with cycling and to remind fans about the truly inspiring connection that Froome has with the country of Kenya, where he grew up, and his first coach David Kinjah, founder of the Safari Simbaz cycling centre near Nairobi.

Think back to the last time you visited your locally owned, neighbourhood bike shop. How many bikes are there on the showroom floor, or hanging from hooks in the ceiling? Sixty, maybe? A hundred?

Now, take that bike shop with its hundred bikes and multiply it by 1,500 — that’s 150,000 bikes — and that’s the number of bikes that Bicycles for Humanity has collected and sent to villages in 12 African countries over the past 15 years.

The Bicycles for Humanity story is truly an incredible one. Its story is so grass-roots, so pure and generous, that

Bicycles for Humanity, the leading donator of bicycles to Africa, with over 150,000 delivered and Safari Simbaz, the leading developer of cyclists in Africa, including Chris Froome, have combined their efforts to meet their mission of using bicycles and cycling as development tools in Africa.

Bicycles provide mobility giving people better access to education, healthcare, fresh water, and economic opportunity.

Pat Montani and Paul Sherwen, who most of you know as the English voice of the Tour de France, are Founders of B4H® and David Kinjah, Founder of Safari Simbaz, are working together to reduce poverty thru the power of the bike.

B4H is a pure ‘grassroots’ movement, with no paid staff or overhead, whose volunteer chapters collect bikes and ship them to Africa in containers. The containers are then turned into bike shops and locals trained to maintain the bikes.

This program has been extremely successful with over 150,000 bikes delivered and over 200 Bicycle Empowerment Centers set up.

The Safari Simbaz Cycling Centre is a non-profit organisation based near Nairobi, Kenya.

It is the brainchild of David Kinjah, a cycling legend in Africa, having won numerous events and mentored Chris Froome, the three time Tour de France winner, who started his cycling career as a Safari Simbaz.

David’s vision is to reduce poverty through the bike and he has dedicated his time to doing just this.

The Safari Simbaz programmes involve children from townships and villages in a positive, after-school activity. The purpose is to give youth of disadvantaged communities the skills and opportunities to make a success of their lives.

David believes that sports like cycling give children the opportunity to become both physically and emotionally strong, building both confidence and self-esteem.

B4H is encouraging its current chapters and building new ones to deliver bikes to the Safari Simbaz so that their valuable work can be expanded across Kenya and then to all of Africa. We welcome all to join David, Paul and I and together, lets get 40,000 bicycles in the next 3 years to create a new generation of responsible cyclists and community leaders. Become a Simba, only with a Lions heart can you win the Tour de France and truly make a difference. For information on how to start a chapter contact, [email protected] https://bicycles-for-humanity.org/

For information on all of the services, programs, tours offered by Safari Simbaz go to https://www.safarisimbaz.com or contact [email protected].