Joe Kennedy

Joe Kennedy is routinely named the region's best writer by readers of The Roanoker magazine.

Recent columns

• Farewell to those who made this space great
• Homeplace founder had recipe for success
• Pam's Snack Shack: Becoming her own boss

• Column archive

About a year ago, Steve Huff had an idea that will reach fruition in November, when 150 small motorcycles arrive in Zimbabwe.

Five of those will have been provided through the efforts of Wheels 2 Africa, the nonprofit, humanitarian organization that Huff, an associate professor of communications design at Virginia Western Community College, set up.

He's a longtime motorcycle enthusiast who visited North Africa in 2003 and saw major health issues and the value of motorcycles in taking people to health care and health care to people.

The idea goes back to a UNICEF effort more than 20 years ago, he said. But he did create a vehicle, if you will, to channel more money to it and help the cause.

Huff, a "private-sector guy," likes charitable efforts that work "people to people" rather than governments-to-people. He set up Wheels to avoid bureaucracy and speed results.

New path

Now Wheels is using its motorcycling ties to organize the possible delivery of up to 4,000 sandal-type shoes, numerous insecticide-treated mosquito nets and medical supplies to people in Senegal.

Motorcycles will not be directly involved in the deliveries, but without the large, four-wheel drive supply trucks that accompany them on the annual Lisbon to Dakar Rally, no deliveries would occur.

Huff long has followed the rally, which will start in Lisbon, Portugal, on Jan. 6 and finish in Dakar, Senegal's capital, on Jan. 20.

The rally travels through some of the most remote terrain in the world, receives worldwide news coverage and includes trucks, cars and motorcycles.

Teams use the big trucks to haul their tools, tires and other supplies.

When Huff learned that, after the rally, the trucks sit in a compound for a few days awaiting shipment to their home countries, he asked, "Can we borrow them?"

That's how the initial pilot project began to unfold.

Hard to reach

"Transportation is one of the major problems in Africa," said Charlie Rauseo, who owns Rally PanAmerica in San Francisco. The team is a "privateer," or one without a major sponsor. Still, it has had some success in the rally in recent years.

Senegal is "pretty destitute," Rauseo said.

He became acquainted by e-mail with Huff after Huff, a graphic artist, sent him a poster he had designed of vintage BMW rally motorcycles.

Huff asked for his help in delivering shoes, mosquito nets and medical supplies, and Rauseo agreed.

Specifically, Rally PanAmerica will provide drivers and its pair of Ford F-350 pickup trucks, equipped with cargo boxes on the back, for the mission.

"We'll take whatever cargo Steve gets for us and go wherever we can go," Rauseo said. "He's getting it done. I'm really impressed. We've been working together since last year."

At least one other team will join them.

Shoes are a rarity in many parts of Senegal, Huff said. Malaria, a blood disease caused by a parasite spread through mosquito bites, is serious and sometimes fatal, especially in less-developed countries.

According to the World Health Organization, in 2000 Senegal had the 11^th-highest malaria infection rate in the world, with 11,925 cases per 100,000 people.

More than 36 percent of its children under age 5 were ill with fever in the two weeks before the survey was taken.

Only 1.7 percent of the country's children under 5 slept under insecticide-treated bed nets.

And 377 of every 100,000 children under age 4 died from malaria in Senegal, which ranked 35^th.

Worldwide, more than 300 million malaria cases occur annually, and more than 1 million people die, according to GlobalHealthReporting.org.

With $10, donors can provide mosquito nets for entire families, Huff said.

He hopes that assisting with serious health issues will generate more donations to Wheels 2 Africa and keep the momentum going. It raised about $25,000 last year and encountered a lot of hard questions from potential donors.

Now, he says, he has some answers for them.

To contribute, go to www.wheels2africa.org or send donations to Wheels 2 Africa P.O. Box 401, Wirtz, VA 24184-0401.

Joe Kennedy's column appears on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.