The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Ghana 1,000km trek raises £30k for health issues
Former Dundee man Iain Walker completes gruelling cycle ride from north to south in role of high commissioner to African country
The Dundee-born UK high commissioner to Ghana has completed a 1,000km charity bike to raise money for health-related initiatives.
Iain Walker began cycling from the north of the country, with a colleague, and finished the gruelling 10-day challenge on Sunday.
He raised £30,000 for a hospital’s burns unit in Accra, Ghana’s capital, as well as visiting different communities to talk about healthy lifestyles and raise awareness of the high commission’s role.
Iain documented his journey, the Ghana Grand, on Twitter, to showcase the country as a visitor destination.
Iain said: “I was delighted to reach the finish line and I’ve learned so much on this journey.
“In short, my role is to represent the UK in Ghana.
“The aim was to visit people in their communities and try to show what we do and who we are, to facilitate a conversation.
“The UK has been working for decades with Ghana on healthcare.
“Ghana is a very forward thinking country in a lot of ways but there is still stigma attached to mental illness, with people believing it’s a curse, and we want to address that.
“We’ve had such a good reception in every place we’ve visited.”
He added: “I also wanted to show Ghana as a place for tourism, to show the positive side through documenting our journey.
“A lot of what you read about Africa is negative – it’s all about poverty, instability and terrorism but Ghana is a beautiful country with amazing people.”
Iain explained his bike ride took him from the dry, arid plains in the north to the savanna in the central belt, towards green areas of subsistence farming and mountains in the south.
He added: “This challenge was also about encouraging people to push themselves.
“I’m not a professional cyclist, although I do keep myself fit.
“Finally, the money we’ve raised will go towards the burns unit in Korle Bu hospital in Accra.
“Burns are a particular problem here because a lot of poor people, particularly in rural areas, use old gas canisters for heating and cooking, often resulting in injury.”