Father & son photographic journey

Hi, My name is Gilberto Martinez, and sitting next to me, is my 9 year-old son, Mathias.

About a year ago, Mathias asked me if we could take a motorcycle trip together. I said, "Of course", thinking he would want to ride close to our home in Edinburgh. But instead he asked me if we could ride to Africa.

What could I say? I've been always curious about Africa, a huge continent full of amazing people, places and cultures.

So, in May, 2015, we'll be riding together with our friend Vicente Noviello on two motorcycles and across Africa for a 3 month journey.





Ride 2 Africa: a father and son photographic journey across Africa.

This journey will be a photography and charity project my son and I have been planning for over a year. We will mix artistic and journalistic photography, focusing on African faces and way of life. Upon our return we will be editing and creating a photography book and an exhibition by the end of 2015.

Our journey from Cape Town, South Africa to Edinburgh, Scotland will take us through 12 different countries in Africa in 3 months. Throughout the trip, we will be documenting, in a journalistic way, how children in Africa access their schools, commute, the relationship among children and among schools, social differences and family situations. Mathias, who is 9 years old, will spend time and interact with children in these areas. It will no doubt be a life changing experience for him and will also allow us to have a very different perspective which would be almost impossible for an adult. Mathias will be photographing the journey too and we will be including his unique experience in our book and exhibition.

To our knowledge, this will be the first time a father and son will cross Africa on a motorcycle. Every day, we will be camping next to different communities and families. We will get to experience firsthand their way of life and traditions.

For us this is an extraordinary project, and one that we want to share with you through the photographs that will be made available to our sponsors.





Why Africa?

In long conversations with my friend Geraldine, who lives in Uganda, about her country and mine, she often brought up the hardship people, especially children in rural areas, have to endure to get an education. Daily struggles include getting to and from school and lack of basic educational materials and equipment. A case in point is Dembe, an 8 year old girl living in Kalisizo, Uganda, who walks six hours every day to get to school. That's three hours each way, in the scorching African heat. Dembe starts her school day already tired, aching and overheated, in a school with very few books and teaching materials.

During one of our conversations, Geraldine and I decided to do something to help. After many phone calls and emails, and months of research, we decided the best course of action was to set up a non-profit organization, the Read and Ride Initiative.


The Read and Ride Initiative aims to increase access to education, through the provision of materials, equipment and transportation to facilitate education in primary schools in Kalisizo, Rakai District, Uganda, so as to promote the schools' self-sufficiency and provide assistance to help them maintain their education systems.

The Read and Ride Initiative's objective is to provide bicycles, books, toys and teaching materials for the children of Kalisizo. During our journey, we will visit the children we are helping. We will send a container of books, toys and bicycles.





Why a motorcycle?

Some of you will be asking why my son and I are going on this journey on a motorcycle ? Well besides the fact that motorbikes are a family tradition, the simple answer is: we can get faster access to remote areas and reach places other people find difficult to get to. I chose a relatively small bike to reduce costs but one that will allow us to ride all the way across the continent. Our plan is to camp out as much as we can. We estimate that we will be camping 95% of the time. In this way, we will be closer to the communities and/or families, and at the same time, reduce the cost of the trip.

By now you are thinking...who is this guy ?

My background is in photography. It's my job, it's my passion, aside from family, of course. I grew up in Venezuela and always had a camera in my hands constantly taking photos. I have quite a few years of experience working in diverse professional photography fields including foods, products, museums cataloguing, nature and editorial. I've always wanted to combine my love of motorcycles with photography. So when Mathias asked me if we could do this trip, I could only say "Yes".





Let's talk about money!

Ok, you've read all the way down to here, and we thank you for your time. Hopefully you really like the project by now!

As you can imagine this is a long project which requires funding. Since the beginning, Geraldine, myself and our friends have been working hard to raise funds and collect books and bicycles for the children in Kalisizo. We have both contributed our own money towards the Read and Ride Initiative so far. Our plan is to use this trip to raise awareness and to produce a photographic data bank of the area, that can be used in Read and Ride Initiative materials such as presentations, leaflets, website and emails; as well as in the book which will be available to those who help us out now.

While I have been saving for few years now, it's not enough and the departure date is approaching quickly. Ideally, we need to raise £6642. The absolute minimum we need to start our journey is £2000, anything over this will be used to cover the remaining £4642 .