Our initial attempts at setting up a Rat Patrol chapter in west Africa were met with enthusiasm and excitement, but ultimately were fruitless, as can be seen in from correspondence with our earliest partners on the ground. In the early 2004, rat Johnny Payphone was selected by Working Bikes of Chicago for a special mission to distribute a shipping container of donated bikes and build cargo hauling bikes for the people of the small village of Patriensa, Ghana. He is currently teaching welding and rat bike building. This is the beginnings of the Rat Patrol Africa chapter. Johnny sends these photos and explains
This is Okusea, or Rat. That front-only brake sure is scary to sit on top of like a pole vaulter comin down those big hills!
This picture was taken on our first Rat Ride. We rode four miles to a nearby village where one of the students, Sekyere, has a blacksmith's shop. What a grueling four miles! Mile-long hills over rutted dirt, with a creek at the bottom- you invest effort on the way up AND on the way down. On the left that's Emelia in the hat, riding on our Mule (afunumu). THen there's Kofi on Enwa (the snail), an ice-cream-cart style bike. Then there's Isaac on our tallbike Akranty3 (cane rat), Sekyere with his own tallbike, Eugene on the chopper Okusea (rat), Nana on a shortbike, and Asante with a trailer we were using to haul extra wheels. The rest of the kids are just part of the crowd of 100 or so that gathered to see the whitey. This village was remote enough that they didn't start with the OBRUNIOBRUNIOBRUNI taunt, they just looked on with awe and fear. |
