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The MOJO VELO Project: Mobile Journalists on Bicycles

This project aims to challenge negative perceptions of Africa through producing documentary shorts that showcase ordinary people doing extraordinary things for their community and the planet.
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mojo velo bike
Introducing the Mojo Velo Project

Introduction

MoJo Velo are demonstrating the power of mobile video journalism by producing high quality documentary shorts on the move. These documentary shorts aim to showcase ordinary people doing extraordinary things for their community and the planet, helping people to develop and prosper in sustainable ways and to adapt climate change. We seek to foster cultural exchange between people all over the world through the sharing of stories, challenging negative perceptions of Africa and promoting its innovation, ingenuity and resilience.

The project began on April 9th 2016 and involves our 3 person team undertaking a gruelling 10,000 km trans-African cycling expedition from Cape Town, South Africa to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We will travel unsupported for up to 10 months, carrying all our gear, cycling through remote desert, thorny savannah, and mushrooming cities, and will charge our devices as much as possible using portable solar power. We will rely on our own self-sufficiency, and on the Ubuntu spirit of the people we meet.

Sharing Stories from Southern and Eastern Africa

Some of our stories and videos can be viewed below. You can find more on the MOJO VELO YouTube channel.

Youth Radio for Environmental Action (Story 11)

Why are a group of Zambian youth not playing football or going to the cinema on a Saturday afternoon? In Lusaka, for 30 minutes every Saturday, a youth radio takeover occurs. Tomorrow’s leaders talk to the world about the importance of acting on climate change, raising awareness and finding solutions. We joined them as they prepared for their broadcast on the 5th August 2016:

To find out more, visit:

Cliff the Beekeeper (Story 8)

Mojo Velo met Cliff Maunze, who works at Environment Africa and is based in Zimbabwe, at the GreenPop Zambia Festival of Action. He loves bees. So should you! They are central to food security since they pollinate 80-90% of all food producing plants in the world, are vital for biodiversity and give us that delicious sweet treat, honey.

Cliff is an enthusiastic trainer of farmers in Southern Africa and if he keeps up his rate of training (he’s trained over 1000 farmers so far) soon whole swathes of the continent will be producing high quality honey, preserving woodlands and earning a vital and significant income that will help make them more resilient to future environmental change.

Check out www.environmentafrica.org for more information.

Open Streets Mitchells Plain Returns the Streets to People (Story 1)

Imagine if streets were built for people, and not for cars.

Before MoJo Velo left Cape Town, we joined the bike bus to cycle to Open Streets Mitchells Plain – to see for ourselves how the people of Cape Town are bridging social divides and ditching the car by reclaiming their streets. Check out Mojo Velo’s short video as we joined in on Sun 03 April 2016:

As cyclists, we love the concept of closing the streets to cars. But Open Streets does more than that. Open Streets was born in Bogota, so while it’s not an idea conjured up by an African – we love the way that the diverse people of Cape Town have embraced and welcomed it. It will take a lot to displace the car as the dominant carbon-emitter, space-taker, noise creator and air pollution maker of our rapidly growing cities – but Open Streets helps us all to imagine what streets could become: a healthier, carbon-free and more inclusive place.

To find out more about Open Streets Cape Town and when the next car-free day will happen, check out www.openstreets.co.za and follow them on Twitter: @openstreetsCT

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Follow MOJO VELO

We are on Twitter and instagram as @mojoveloproject, facebook, and our YouTube Channel is MoJo Velo. You can email us on [email protected]

Partners and Supporters

We are grateful to the following people and organisations for their partnership and support:

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