The Paper Fig 560
Ride the Empire State Trail for Women’s Empowerment in East Africa
Emily Weitz
What does a 560-mile bike ride through New York State have to do with women’s empowerment in Uganda? To understand the connection, perhaps it’s best to return to the mantra of the Paper Fig Foundation: We are all connected.
When Laurie DeJong founded the Paper Fig Foundation, an organization committed to women’s empowerment currently operating in East Africa, she was at central command at New York Fashion Week. She knew the power of the platform of the fashion industry, and she wanted to wield that power to help women grow and succeed all over the world.
“If we could take even a fraction of that money and power and apply it to developing economies, the impact could be epic,” said DeJong.
After helping to launch the first-ever Kigali Fashion Week in Rwanda, DeJong knew she had found a corner of the world where her impact could be profoundly felt. She then brought a team to Uganda to help develop Kampala Fashion Week and set designer Ron Voller was a part of that team. Voller fell in love with the region, and the mission of Paper Fig.
Years later, when the global Covid 19 pandemic made it impossible to travel to some of the remote locations where Paper Fig now conducts its work (a sewing school, health center and Alumni Association in Southwest Uganda), Voller decided he needed to help Paper Fig raise the funds necessary to continue, even if the New York-based team couldn’t get there in person.
“In Uganda, as in many parts of Africa and the rest of the world, the bicycle is a major mode of transportation for the entrepreneur,” said Voller. “I mean, people carry everything on their bikes. Chickens, mattresses and box springs balanced on their heads. So, I figure riding a bike 600 miles to support at-risk communities in East Africa was a pretty fitting tribute.”
He’s been training since February, running and riding the stationary bike at his local gym, and has since begun riding his bike along the road in New York City. He has covered long distances before, running the NYC Marathon in 2002 and the Brooklyn Half just last month, but this trip will be by far the longest and most difficult he has ever attempted. Riding all along the Empire State Trail, it will be an opportunity for riders to enjoy the beauty of their home state and do something positive for people across the world.
Thus launches the first ever Paper Fig 560, a bike ride from Battery Park to Niagara Falls. Along the way, Voller will be getting to know friends of friends as well as strangers willing to lend a hand, an ear, a meal, or a bed. He’ll tell his own stories, like the time he bought a goat for a king. And he’ll share the stories of the women of Paper Fig, like Medrine, who started a sewing school out of a shack and now, with the support of the Paper Fig Foundation, has become head teacher of the PFF Sew School.
“I entered a partnership with Paper Fig Foundation and started training students for free,” said Ms. Muhindo. “They are supporting me, they are paying me a salary, and I am paying school fees for my children.”
The Paper Fig Foundation has equipped more than 300 young women with the skills they need to be successful tailors and businesswomen, to have agency over their own finances and their own lives.
“The events of the past couple months were a harsh reminder that women's empowerment is not a given anywhere on this planet,” said DeJong. “Whether it's a patriarchal system that allows young girls to be married off to older men, or a misogynistic view that government should dictate women's most personal decisions, it's all unacceptable. Our mission is to empower women in East Africa, and everywhere.”
To donate to the Paper Fig 560 or to learn how you can Ride with Ron, go to www.paperfig.org/paperfig560.
