While the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge completed their whirlwind tour of Canada last week, another Englishwoman’s slower and lower-key trip across the country brought her to St. Albert.
Tana Silverland was born and raised just south of Manchester, England, but now calls Canada home. She is cycling across the country on a recumbent tricycle to raise money for SOS Children’s Villages.
Silverland got involved with SOS Children’s Villages while attending university in Cambridge and her passion for helping out has followed her across the pond.
“With the work that they do and the huge difference they are making in the lives of so many incredibly vulnerable children, they are essentially giving them back their childhoods,” Silverland said.
However, the idea for the ride came from further in left field considering Silverland said she has no experience with long-distance cycling, nor was it a long-standing desire.
“It just kind of happened,” she said. “I was looking to get the trike simply as a means of getting around, but then people were so interested in the trike — most people had never seen anything looking quite like that before. Complete strangers were stopping me in the streets and starting conversations with me simply because I was sitting on the trike. Gradually, I started thinking that this could be an opportunity.”
SOS runs 518 children’s villages and 383 youth homes that care for more than 78,000 children in 124 countries around the world.
Silverland landed in St. Albert late last week, and hit the road again on Sunday. She started her journey in Whitehorse last June, and plans to wrap it up in Cape Spear, N.L., in fall 2012.
So far, the response has been great. She said she has opened many eyes to SOS Children’s Villages and the work they do.
“The most common response I’ve had so far is that they’ve quite literally never even heard of SOS Children’s Villages before,” she said. “So, in terms of the awareness-raising aspect of my journey, I feel I’ve been very successful.”
Of course, the other aspect is raising money. Silverland receives emails notifying her when people make donations through her website, which she finds very uplifting.
“Those emails really do keep me going when I get in from a long, hard day on the trike and it’s raining on me like it was [Saturday] morning,” she said.
While the prospect of cycling on open roads during a harsh Canadian winter isn’t exactly appealing, Silverland said she’s committed enough to her cause to give it a shot.
“For as long as it remains safe to do so, I will continue cycling through all seasons,” she said. “A lot of people laugh, but you can get snow tires for pedal cycles.”
While in St. Albert, Silverland stayed with Judie Matthys, a member of the Saint City Rotary Club who said she had no hesitations about opening her home.
“It was just a matter of stepping up,” she said. “It was an easy thing for me to do.”
She added that what Silverland is doing meshes very well with what Rotary clubs are trying to achieve. In fact, at many stops along the way, Silverland has received a lot of support from Rotarians, and even educated a few along the way on SOS Children’s Charities, as she did Friday for the Saint City club.
“I’ve always heard of SOS, but in Canada it is not high profile at all,” Matthys said. “I was really quite interested to learn more and know more.”
Silverland said she is grateful for the support that Rotarians and other Canadians have shown as she makes her way across the country.
“I am literally dependent on the kindness of strangers in each of the towns I come to — taking me in, giving me a place to sleep, feeding me and sending me on my way to the next destination,” Silverland said. “In a lot of the places I have stopped, members of Rotary clubs have been incredibly kind in offering to do that.”
Those interested can follow Silverland’s journey or make a donation to SOS Children’s Villages through her blog at www.tanasilverland.wordpress.com.
