The professional bicycle group "Israel Premier Tech" announced today (Monday) that it intends to establish a unique cycling center in Rwanda, Africa, for tens of thousands of the younger generation in the country.
The center, to be called the "Dream Field," will be built in the heart of the Bogasara region, a backward area made up of many hundreds of villages inhabited by 120,000 teenagers and children, most of whom can not even afford to dream of owning a bicycle.
The Israeli team will jump in four days to the most watched and prestigious race in the world - the Tour de France - and will compete in a column in new uniforms that are unveiled today for the first time and designed specifically for the race inspired by its African aid project "Riders to Change".
The group has adopted and nurtured in the last year the only women's group in Rwanda, initiated cycling classes for children and teenagers, flowed equipment and bicycles, with the whole project being a great success.
It is now taking the next big step: the "Dream Ground" will include "Pump Trek" - the first advanced riding complex for children of its kind in Rwanda, a training and racing track, and later will build an academy for grooming riders, mechanics and instructors, with equipment and bicycles for children and teenagers.
Medi Israel Premium Tech for the Tour de France to launch the bicycle center campaign, Photo: Noa Arnon
The center will be built on a large piece of land made available to the group by the Hatikva Association - a community and educational center founded by Serge Gassur, a survivor of the Rwandan massacre, who became a national symbol after returning to the place where he lost many family members. Members of the tribe that committed the massacre in which his people were murdered.
"The dream field will provide an opportunity for thousands of children and teenagers to ride, develop and fulfill dreams," Gasser said. "It will make a huge difference."
Meanwhile, ahead of the Tour de France, the group is launching an extraordinary international crowdfunding campaign in which it calls on millions of fans and cyclists around the world to be partners in building the "Dream Ground" to give the children of Bogassera and Rwanda the opportunity for a child in a developed country.
During the 21 days of the Tour de France, the team intends to take advantage of this tremendous world stage and reach millions of fans with the call to donate: "Let's build the dream field with you."
"Israel Premier Tech" on the way to a unique project in Rwanda, Photo: Ziv Scherzer
"Israel Premier Tech" on the way to a unique project in Rwanda, Photo: Ziv Scherzer
"Israel Premier Tech" on the way to a unique project in Rwanda, Photo: Ziv Scherzer
All of the group's riders and its staff rallied to lead the campaign with their donations and recruiting donors from their many fans while the group leaders and owners stated that they would donate at least the same amount to all donations collected around the world for the establishment of the center.
The owners of the group, Sylvan Adams and Ron Bar-On: "For us, this project is 'Tikkun Olam', and it has been part of the identity of this group since its inception.
We see the group as the most beautiful and successful Israeli ambassador in the world and promote Israeli riders and the entire industry in Israel.
"Africa and Rwanda are our 'fixing the world' as Jews and human beings - and we hope and believe that we can bring fans from Israel and the whole world to unite behind this project that the children of Rwanda so deserve."
Chris Fromm, a great rider of the last generation, who has won the Tour de France four times and competed in the Israeli team uniform, is a native of Kenya and sees himself largely as African: "When I grew up as a child in Africa, cycling symbolized for me freedom, the opportunity to experience the world around me.
As someone who grew up in an environment where there is no proper facility, a supportive system and often even without a pair of bikes - who like me knows how vital this group initiative of the group is to set up a bike center that will allow children to fulfill dreams.
I call on everyone to contribute and build this dream field with us. "
The “Racing for Change” kit that we will use for @letour has a special purpose: to bring awareness to the fundraising campaign to build “The Field of Dreams” in Bugesera, Rwanda.
For more info on the project and how you can donate: https://t.co/pyH6l92RVI pic.twitter.com/7ceBs8YINh
- Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) June 27, 2022
Israeli cyclist Guy Sagiv: "As someone who got to meet these amazing children and teenagers in Rwanda when we first launched the aid project a year ago - I am thrilled to have the opportunity to embark on a cycling center construction project that could change the lives of so many of them.
I hope that Israelis will open their hearts and make the "land of dreams" a reality. "
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