When Mueni Mulli and six youth from the Mully Children’s Family arrived in Vancouver from Kenya last month they thought they had been tricked.
“It was supposed to be summer,” she said, noting they were shocked by the chilly weather.
The group of seven is travelling across Canada with Arvid Loewen, who is cycling across the country trying to beat his own Guinness World Record for the fastest time from Vancouver to Halifax of 13 days, six hours and 13 minutes.
The group stopped by KOA Campgrounds on Monday to cheer on Loewen as he passed through the city trying to make up some time on his trek.
And while the 55-year-old Loewen is trying to break records, he is also raising awareness and funds for the Mully Children’s Family. The organization provides a home for Kenyan children who have been orphaned, abandoned, abused or neglected.
“They’re children who come from difficult backgrounds and they come to MCF to seek for refuge or a place they can call home,” said Mulli, one of the founding Mulli family’s biological children.
At MCF, the children receive everything a child needs from food, education, shelter and clothing to a loving family environment and spiritual nourishment.
Six of those children – three young men, two young women and one small girl – made the trip to Canada with Mulli to cheer on Loewen and raise awareness about their cause.
Mulli said all of them have loved the trip despite experiencing almost every kind of weather Canada has to offer.
“As we went along, it started becoming a bit warmer and then very windy. Winnipeg was very hot. Suddenly we felt everything across the board,” Mulli said.
“The kids are loving it. They enjoy meeting people,” she said, adding they have been billeting in people’s homes along the journey and have been welcomed by all of the communities they’ve visited.
And as Loewen preserves in his trip across the country, he serves an inspiration, Mulli said.
“It’s amazing to someone give up so much for the needy children in Kenya and in Africa as a whole. It is not very often you will come across people with such a big heart, who want to support and who want to do so much,” she said.
“He has gone through rain. He has gone through wind. He has had swelling on his legs but still he’s keeping on … the drive that is driving him amazes me because it never seems to stop. We are definitely proud to be associated with him,” Mulli said.
Loewen isn’t stopping Halifax, but continuing on to St. John’s to try to break the World Records Academy Record for the fastest cycling trip from Vancouver to St. John’s.
You can follow his journey at www.grandpascan.com.
