12/17/2023 Bikepacking Mauritania Day 131 : It made a difference to that one…

by Brian · Published December 17, 2023 · Updated March 3, 2024

A man and a boy were walking on a beach full of starfish drying in the sun. The boy kept throwing starfish back into the ocean to save them. The man said, “There are miles of beach and hundreds of starfish! You can't make any difference.” The boy bent down to pick up another starfish and threw it into the surf. He smiled at the man and said, “It made a difference to that one.”

With that as your preface, here is what happened today.

First, I read that Lukas, the other type 1 diabetic I mentioned on Diabetes Day ( https://www.strava.com/activities/10218914282 ) has arrived in his destination of Togo. He is a T1d who is cycling Western Africa. They are testing the local people for diabetes, and yesterday they found a boy with a blood glucose of 470. Without this effort, the child’s diabetes likely would have never been discovered, and he probably would have just died of unknown causes in a couple weeks.

“It made a difference to that one.”

Lukas’ story lifted my heart, so the day was off to a good start.

Now that I’m at the border with Senegal, things are different. The men are tall and muscular; many women are my height, lithe, and slender, their legs the diameter of my wrist. The tea parties are over, and along with it, most of the smiles.

A boy of about 8, wearing a rastacap called out to me. He was smoking. “Bonjour,” was all I could say, even though people here know little French. He looked so adult the way he handled the cigarette. Apart from the fluent military guys, no one seems to speak French or Arabic in this region. (See language map I just uploaded). No humorous conversations passing the phone back and forth - just blank stares, and occasionally people who wave back when I smile and wave.

I stopped to buy bread from a street vendor. A dozen kids surrounded me; all with their palms facing upwards. They were all thin: maybe due to genetics, but also maybe due to lack of food. I passed a few of the boys some of the bread that I just bought, naively thinking they would share the loaves with the others. Instead, the 3 started chomping down on their loaves without saying anything; the other kids still waiting for their pieces.

This act did not go unnoticed, and kids came running at me from all directions. I shoved the remaining bread under the strap on my bar bag and squeezed past the crowd to run away.

I guess “It made a difference to that one.”… maybe.

This day was tough. Besides seeing all the depravity, trash, and probably hungry children, I had a very dusty headwind on a mostly dirt road so bumpy that the bottom fell out of my bottle cage. Luckily, the elastic hair strap kept the bottle in there.

This type of begging was different. It wasn’t kids just messing with me like in Morocco; I think these kids really did need help - but I cannot help all of them; and a loaf of bread really only buys them another day at best.

Although shop owners generally shoo away kids, today when a man came inside the shop and just stood next to me with his palm out, the shop owner actually gave him a small coin. He continued to stand besides me, an inch away, waiting as I worked out what I wanted to buy.

I didn’t take many pictures today because the only beautiful thing is the people. Everything surrounding them is rot and trash. I generally try to keep my camera put away around the people unless they are already taking selfies with me.

The people are beautiful, even if some of them have disheveled clothing. I noticed a number of boys with whitish powder on their faces. I wondered if that was “a thing” or maybe it was just dust.

Luckily, when I got to Kaedi, some of the smiles came back and I had a couple of short chats with teens in various spots. While I was buying food, I could hear a boy saying to another boy to say to me, “don argent”. (trying to say give money). The younger boy would repeat the incorrect French, smiling. A girl stood and watched everything as three other boys tried to talk to me. I couldn’t hear what one was saying, so I moved to get closer - he jumped and ran away - causing everyone (including me) to laugh. He was quite a grasshopper, because this happened 3 times!

Although the town looked pretty deplorable with all the trash, I didn’t get the impression that the kids in Kaedi really needed anything like the kids I met earlier in the day.

I hate leaving most of these little starfish out to dry, but at least it make a grain of sand difference to those ones near Bogue. That’s what I’m going to tell myself, anyway.

Photos:

An abandoned hotel, I think.

If you were wondering what camels eat. Well, that is what they eat here. I have no idea what they eat in the Sahara.

I gave out 6 fiche cards in the first 14 miles! I had been drafting off some trucks - 10mph into the wind solo….but 20 or even 30mph behind a truck. Unfortunately, military checkpoints and closed pavement throttled my drafting.

At one checkpoint, I had been drafting a truck. The police detained me, but not my wonderful wind blocking truck. Grrrr! I answered all the questions before he even asked, which made him seem to want to waste more of my time. Finally, I got frustrated and just bolted away. He already had my fiche and the answers to all the questions! They can’t chase you down because they don’t have a vehicle! I did catch my draft, but it was because the road was closed like this. Miles and miles of the road today were like this… where vehicles drove on the side of the road. I am guessing they are working on it? —

Cars drive along the side of the road because it is mostly closed. I could ride on the pavement when it existed, but had to dodge the rocks that were carefully placed every 12 feet to keep cars off.

Just your typical roadside scene. That one guy is in the typical Jaba the Hut pose.

Drafting whenever there was pavement. The vehicles can’t go to fast because of the potholes; but I don’t worry too much because of the full suspension. About 25mph behind the truck and 17 behind the harvester. The diesel and dust were awful, but easier than the wind. 💨

A river crossing. First water on the ground in quite a while.

Tonight’s camp amongst cows and something snorting that sounds like a pig.

I knew it sounded different here! Poular is the language now. Pulaar is a Fula language spoken primarily as a first language by the Fula and Toucouleur peoples in the Senegal River valley area traditionally known as Futa Tooro and further south and east. Pulaar speakers, known as Haalpulaar'en live in Senegal, Mauritania, the Gambia, and western Mali. —

Strava Comments:

Glenn O.

A beautiful, yet sad story, Brian. I imagine, decades from now, these boys sitting around a fire together recollecting the story of a friendly, generous biker named “Brahmin” passing through in 2023. You likely mattered to them 🙏

terri W.

A huge “Ditto” what Glen just said. Sitting in Auckland international airport right now looking around at the affluence we take for granted every day. I don’t see any slender people at all.

Janet W.

It's true, whenever you, or anyone, helps one person it makes a difference. It's sad that some children are in need. Now it's very real, when you see and try to talk to the children in person. I'm glad you're reminding us. I like the Shakira song This Time for Africa with your truck drafting video and the flashing hazard lights!

Jennifer G.

Your days of meeting people and countries of such contrast make interesting reading, thank you! And beauty surrounds you most often!

Jessica M.

Hi Brahim! Glad you can draft! You make a difference in our lives sharing your stories and in so many lives as you travel!!

Mark B.

Brian Lucido You MUST render / compile each of your epic trips' Strava posts series into a 1-stop-shop multimedia travelogue online in a blog you have set up for the purpose-- maybe even publish a book, with profits going to help those very children.

Ann L.

I’ve always loved the star fish story. “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” ― Mother Teresa- You are doing the best you can Brian.

Stephen Mark R.

You're entering a region with water. There is a lot of food in Senegal and Gambia yet people can still face hardship. Contentiously, no differrent to USA in that regard. The colonial past is not that distant and begging can be a problem. You will find plenty of French speakers in Senegal and plenty of English speakers in Gambia. In the latter, people will hold out their hands and say "toobab". It means "2 shillings".

Stan H.

Congratulations on crossing the Sahara Desert by bicycle via a difficult, rarely traveled route! I read 6,600 people have summited Mt. Everest. How many cyclists do you think have completed your route across the Sahara? Maybe one hundredth of that number? Or fewer? In your starfish story, what I take from it was that the boy wasn’t sad that he couldn’t help all of them, but he was happy for the ones he could help.

Sօʀƈɛʀɛʀ 🅅.

OMG water on the ground and a river! Drafting video clip is interesting too.