Web Site of the Month: www.cycleforunderstanding.org

Ask Skidmore senior history major Eric Silverman '10 how he spent his summer vacation?-and prepare to be blown away. He and Washington University buddy Aaron Bodansky rode bicycles halfway across the African continent on the 2X2 Bike Ride they undertook to build more positive media awareness of African people, their cultures and kindnesses. In 70 days, Silverman and Bodansky peddled approximately 2,700 miles, from Cape Town in South Africa to Nairobi, Kenya, crossing through Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, and Tanzania.

What motivated them? Sheer frustration with "Western prejudices and popular misconceptions regarding the African continent," they explain on the Web site's home page. Silverman, who met Bodansky while both were studying abroad at the University of Cape Town, explains that "our family and friends thought it was too dangerous to travel around Africa and we would get killed. All they really knew about the continent was through the media, which I feel shows only crime, poverty, corruption, and violence. By relying on the support of individuals and communities throughout our journey, we hoped to actively reduce negative stereotypes and promote a positive image of Africa to the West." The ride was also a benefit for Children of South Africa (CHOSA), a grassroots charity where both have served as volunteers, teaching math, literacy, and baseball to kids in poor and crime-ridden townships.

Crisply laid out in sky blue and grass green, www.cycleforunderstanding.org was designed by Silverman and Bodansky, "with a little outside help." It features a link to the CHOSA Web site and includes a short history of the nonprofit corporation the biking buddies and Cape Town student friends set up to "design, promote, and facilitate acts of global immersion and cooperation amongst individuals." There's also a map of the 2X2 Bike Ride route; a media section with clips from a goodly number of South African papers and the independent newspaper Student Life; and a "Guestbook" whose entries range from instructional ("You probably know this already, but check your seat height?knees should only be very slightly bent") to warmly supportive ("This is what life is really about, what an awesome adventure! cant wait to read all about it! well done fellas!")

But the heart of the site?and the proof of the pudding for the whole adventure?is the blog Silverman and Bodansky wrote about their travels, a work of nearly novelistic proportions. They took turns authoring chapters while on the road, and posted fresh episodes whenever they happened upon an Internet cafe. The blog reports their experiences with powerful headwinds, aching hands (and derrieres), damaged Achilles tendons, flat tires, broken bike chains, pounding rain, high mountain passes, hunger, fever, headache, and exhaustion. "I had never done anything like this," says Silverman, who like Bodansky had previously biked only short distances. "It took a while to get used to bicycling every day for six or seven hours, sometimes longer, with almost 75 pounds of weight on the back of the bicycle." The word "grueling" comes to mind.

Did Silverman and Bodansky find the local support they were counting on? Absolutely?over and over again. People they met on the road fed and sheltered them, shared the national dish of n'shima with them, repaired their bikes, treated their ailments, tutored them in Tswana, and much more. "The great thing was that the people were so hospitable and kind," says Silverman.

Back now on their respective U.S. campuses, Bodansky and Silverman are still adding photos and final blog entries to the Web site, planning a 2X2 Bike Ride documentary with video footage they shot along the way, and raising money for CHOSA and their Africa-awareness campaign. (Along with all those hair-raising and heartwarming adventures on www.cycleforunderstanding, there's also a discreet little button marked "Donations.")