The Martlet

Three UVic students will be out on their bikes this summer empowering youth to make decisions about the environment.

Jocelyn Land-Murphy and Jessica Lax conceived the Otesha Project in 2002, while studying sustainable development at a travelling field school in Kenya.

“Otesha” is a Swhaili word meaning “reason to dream.” Motivated by the comparative lavishness of Canadian life, the project recruits young dreamers to the pavement to fire up other youth and spark some change.

Instead of preaching about environmental issues, Otesha aims to empower youth to make their own conscious decisions.

“It’s difficult to get your message across without slapping people on the wrist,” said John Lafratta, who rode with Otesha last summer.

Three UVic students are gearing up to join Otesha’s bike tours. Each tour follows one of six routes connecting communities of all sizes in different areas of Canada.

Cycling to schools and community centres and sharing ideas through games and theatre, Otesha participants use high spirits and comedy to engage youth.

Greg Horne will cycle from Ottawa to Sudbury after leaving UVic this spring, while undergrads Wilson Mendes and Ildi Kovac will join the sunshine coast tour this summer. They’re not promised a joy ride.

“You might wake up camping and make some burnt oatmeal for breakfast, then bike 30 kilometres to your next performance,” said Emily Crosbie, a UVic geography major who rode with Otesha last summer. “It can be pretty chaotic.”

Between 15 and 20 youth make up a team, which sticks together for the length of the tour. The teams decide everything by consensus — which can translate to tall and tedious discussion. Nevertheless, Horne is enthusiastic about using consensus and community processes.

“It’s a model for the change we’re trying to push forward,” he said.

Mendes hopes to encourage young people to “live a more active life, and above all be aware about the responsibility we have in the world” instead of “sitting in front of the TV for 8 hours.”

Student audiences learn about staggered showers, organic coffee, local breakfasts, and low-carbon transport to school. Mendes said the magic of cycling is its speed: the rider has time to sink into the moment instead of whizzing past.

“All the mechanisms we have developed have been to speed up the process,” he said about modern technology. “Sometimes we lose the purpose because there are so many things going on.”

Bike tour participants need to contribute $1,900 to the program, and Horne said he’s learned a lot just from fundraising.

“I didn’t know so many people were interested,” he said, adding he’s gotten plenty of positive support selling cookies and cookbooks and collecting donations online. Mendes and Kovac collected donations by the UVic fountain. The trio will also hold a benefit this April.