A cross-Canada bike trip raising money for a women's equality initiative in Ghana comes to Leamington this afternoon.
Leamington's Mary Fehr and Picton, Ontario native Sarah French are set to roll into the Leamington Pavilion for 5:30pm. Fehr says the 8,710km trip is taxing, but she had a strong motivator.
"We're tired right now, but think about these women that have to work this hard every day just to feed their families," says Fehr. "So yes we can endure a three-and-a-half-month bike trip."
Fehr says the MEDA BIke To Grow initiative is hoping to help 20,000 women in Ghana over six years.
"It's really, really successful and so the next step of the project is to work on how MEDA is going to pull out of the country and yet the locals are going to take over and continue to run it for the future," says Fehr.
She points to a Ghanian woman named Mayan as an example of how the initiative helps women support themselves and improve their situation.
"From where she started to where she is now, she's now a lead farmer in the project and she says that now when she goes to community meetings, people actually listen to what she's saying," says Fehr.
The trip has raised $167,000 through the MEDA Bike To Grow initiative which teaches Ghanian women farming practices as a way of supporting themselves and their family.
Click here for more information on the project.