‘We are a force for good’: Sylvan Adams brings cycling to Rwandan children

‘All the noise about constitutional battles and political divisions in Israel today pales in comparison with the good deeds and virtuousness of our people,” says Sylvan Adams. “We are a force for good.” If there is anyone in Israel who is qualified to speak about the remarkable Israeli capacity for helping others and promoting peace, it is the Canadian-born Adams who, since his aliyah, has presented the positive face of Israel to the world.

Adams – who dubbed himself Israel’s “self-appointed ambassador-at-large” shortly after he arrived in 2016 – is the co-owner of the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) professional cycling team, Israel-Premier Tech. He recently returned from a visit to Rwanda, where he introduced the team’s Racing for Change initiative. The project is designed to boost cycling in the country and improve the lives of thousands of Rwandan children by encouraging them to become involved in the sport.

How did Adams become involved with cycling in Rwanda, a small country in East Africa, more than 3,600 km. (approximately 2,200 miles) away from Israel? First, he explains, the country has a rich cycling culture. “What is beautiful about Rwanda,” he says, “is that everyone rides bicycles because no one has cars. You see people riding their bicycles, carrying jugs of milk or construction materials. Rwanda is called the land of a thousand hills, and you can see the strength of the people as they ride. Cycling is very popular there. I fell in love with the beautiful country and its people.”

Moreover, Adams has great sympathy for the Rwandan people, who suffered the loss of more than 800,000 people in the hundred days between April and July 1994, when armed Hutu militias massacred members of the Tutsi, Hutsu and Twa ethnic groups. All told, nearly five million people were killed between 1994 and 2003. 

Despite these tragic losses, the Rwandan people have survived. “They have been able to pull back together under the inspired leadership of President Paul Kagame,” Adams says.

Since 2016, the Israel-Premier Tech team has been competing in the Tour du Rwanda, the biggest cycling race in Africa, and has always received a warm reaction from the huge crowds. The team was looking for ways to support Rwandan cycling. In 2021, the Israeli squad adopted the Rwandan women’s cycling team, providing them with top-of-the-line bicycles, helmets, shoes and equipment, as well as a pro training camp led by an Israeli woman’s coach and the team’s pro staff.

Last summer, Adams and Israel-Premier Tech initiated the Racing for Change program. During the Tour de France race, the Israeli team began an Israel Gives worldwide fund-raiser for the construction of a pump track in Bugesera, located in Rwanda’s Eastern Province. A pump track is a special bicycle circuit consisting of rollers, banked turns and features designed to be ridden completely by riders “pumping” and generating momentum by up-and-down body movements instead of pedaling or pushing.

More than 1,000 cycling aficionados from around the world responded to the campaign by sending contributions, with the remainder of the funds provided by the team’s sponsors and owners. The pump track, Adams says, is one of the top pump tracks in the world.

As is his wont, Adams wanted to do more. “We decided to build a standard 1.3-km. closed bicycle track, where cycling races can be held safely.”

The selection of Bugesera as the location for the cycling facilities was not by chance. Bugesera was one of the hardest-hit areas during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. In April of that year, 2,000 Tutsi villagers were hiding in a church in the village when a grenade landed there, killing most of the people inside. 

Miraculously, eight-year-old Serge Gasore, shielded by his mother, survived. Gasore became a successful runner, received a track scholarship in the US, and returned to Rwanda years later to help his people. With the support of church groups in the US, Gasore built a community center for the residents of the village, many of whom have no running water or electricity.

The women’s cycling program in Bugesara, which the Israeli cycling team adopted, was formed by Gasore. He provided Adams and the Israeli team with the land to build the pumping track and the regular cycling track. The facility was dubbed the Field of Dreams Bike Center.

Several weeks ago, Adams, together with five cyclists from the team, including Chris Froome, one of the world’s top cyclists, traveled to Rwanda to participate in the Tour du Rwanda race and dedicate the 243-dunam Field of Dreams Bike Center in Bugesera. Adams and the team members held a bike race on the new track for the children of the village and brought a special trainer to teach the children how to ride on the pump track using BMX-style bicycles. 

For Froome, who grew up in Kenya, the visit to Africa was a homecoming of sorts. While watching the Rwandan children delightedly racing on the tracks, he said, “To witness those smiles felt like a great victory. It’s a game-changer of a project.” 

Adams plans to construct a racing academy building adjacent to the two tracks, where coaches will train young Rwandans in cycling. The academy will include cycling equipment and dormitories for visiting riders. 

“Our goal is to turn this into a major cycling hub for East Africa,” he says with a smile, adding that local schools will be using the bicycle tracks for their physical education programs. While he foresees a day when the most talented graduates of the program may go on to join the Israeli cycling team, the ultimate goal of the program is to reach the 40,000 students living in the Bugesera district and enrich their lives.

The initiative of Israel-Premier Tech in Rwanda has extended beyond cycling to bring electricity to Bugesera in a unique partnership between the team and Ignite Power, a leading pan-African off-grid solar company headquartered in Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

As part of the partnership, Ignite will install advanced solar systems in the homes of the youths who participate in the bike center’s activities. For many of the children, it will be the first time their families have access to basic electricity in their homes. More than 20 homes have already been connected to electricity through this project, and many more families will be connected in the next few weeks. Ignite Power will connect at least 200 homes this year and plans to connect thousands more in the future.

During his visit to Rwanda, Adams met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and expressed his appreciation for his assistance in getting the project underway. For his part, the Rwandan leader thanked the team for its investments in cycling in Rwanda, which came from its own initiative. Chuckling, Adams says, “When I met with the president, I was engaging in diplomatic activity as the self-appointed ambassador.”

Sylvan Adams is continuing his quest to promote Israel’s image in the world by showcasing the country’s true face in his cycling travels and by sponsoring events that present the positive face of the country. 

Adams arranged Israel’s hosting of the first three stages of the Giro d’Italia Grand Tour bicycle race in 2018; brought Madonna to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv in 2019; and sponsored Israel’s hosting of the French Super Cup (Trophée des Champions) in Tel Aviv this past July between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and NC Nantes, which brought soccer superstars Lionel Messi, Neymar and Sergio Ramos to the Holy Land. 

Just as he is doing in Rwanda, Adams is spreading the popularity of cycling in Israel. The Sylvan Adams Velodrome in Tel Aviv, the most advanced cycling facility in the Middle East, is part of his vision to nurture homegrown cycling champions in Israel. 

The Israeli team recently donated bicycles to Arab-Israeli children in the northern town of Shfar’am, and Adams dreams of a time when an Arab-Israeli rider will join the Israeli cycling team. Planning is also underway to create a cycling center in the South.

“We live in an era where antisemitism has returned, after we said ‘Never Again.’ I believe that it exists on the fringe, and the vast majority is willing to embrace us when we are seen to be doing virtuous things,” Adams says. “I believe in our Jewish values that we transmit to the rest of the Western world. “We are a force for good.”