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By BEN MCCARTY
News staff writer
May 23, 2008
For many, the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic is a chance to see some
of the top cyclists in the world up close and personal. For
Leslie and Jim Cogswell it has been a chance to open their doors
to the world.
Before last year’s race the Hood River couple decided to host a
team for the race.
They did not realize the team they would be hosting would be
traveling all the way from the African country of Rwanda to be
there. And they didn’t even think that the last-minute request
to have them host a team would change their lives.
After a week of spending time with the Rwandan National Cycling
team, they became attached to the young men forming one of their
country’s first attempts to re-enter the national stage on a
positive note following several genocides and years of civil war
that left millions dead or displaced.
On the last day the Rwandans and the Cogswells prepared to say
their goodbyes.
Then the team’s van broke down.
Leslie volunteered to help drive the team to a fundraiser at
Mount Carmel in California, and wound up driving through the
night to get them there on time.
While on the trip she got acquainted with Tom Ritchie, the
director of the Rwanda Project, of which the cycling team was a
part, and he mentioned to her that a team of mechanics would be
traveling to Rwanda to help the project maintain bikes that are
given to Rwandan villages to help transport coffee, one of the
nation’s primary exports.
One member of the team had to drop out, so a spot was open.
Leslie jumped at the chance to see the country of the team she
had been hosting for the past week.
“I told Jim ‘We have to follow this until it comes to a dead
end,’” Cogswell said. “And it never did.”
Within weeks, she had all the necessary immunizations —
including seven shots in one day — and a fast-tracked visa to
head oversees.
Cogswell traveled with a group of five others, four 20-something
students from UC Berkeley, and the father of Jacob Seigal, a
22-year-old student at Berkeley who had organized the trip.
The first day of the trip was a happy reunion for Leslie; she
met up with members of the cycling team, but then they were off
to South Africa for a race.
Then she was left in an unfamiliar country with a group of
people she had not met until the day they left.
The group was supposed to be assembling a new shipment of bikes
for the Rwandan Coffee bike project. The bikes are simple
machines, constructed out of wood to help them survive the bumps
and turns of rough Rwandan roads.
But when they linked up with the local mechanic, named Douglas,
they found the bikes already constructed.
Instead, Douglas wanted them to teach others how to repair the
bikes, so that they could last longer. So instead of spending
their week putting together wooden bikes, they traveled from
village to village on mountain bikes, experiencing the rough but
beautiful country firsthand.
“God did a lot of cut and pasting when he made Rwanda,” Cogswell
said Douglas told her.
Her time in the country came and went all too quickly and she
and Jim are hoping that they get to travel to Rwanda together
sometime in the near future.
The Rwandan Cycling team did not get to make the trip to the
Mount Hood Cycling Classic this year because of scheduling and
finances, but the Cogswells still keep in touch with members of
the team and Project Rwanda.
They are now welcome in a country halfway around the globe,
simply because they decided to open their doors to a bunch of
perfect strangers.
They lucked out again this time around when the race rolled
through town last week, hosting the women of Aaron’s
Professional Cycling.
The Aaron’s team wound up winning the team championship and team
member Julie Beveridge won the women’s individual championship.
After a week of bonding with the team, Leslie said she wants to
keep them around.
“I told Jen Wilson (a Hood River resident who hosted the team
last year) even if you can host them next year, you are not
getting them back,” she said.
And yes, they plan to travel to follow the Aaron’s team as well.
The team is hoping to attend the Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend
in July, and the Cogswells want to be there.
Whether it is driving to Bend or flying to
Rwanda, opening their home to the teams of the Mt. Hood Cycling
Classic has opened up a new chapter in the Cogswells’
lives, one that they are enjoying immensely.
“Anytime you open your door it opens up your lives and your
world,” Leslie said. “It makes you aware that there is a big
world out there.” |
