Lloyd Mwale in KADOMA
THE pain was clear on the faces of sixteen teenagers, who are members of a local cycling club, as they battled to come to grips with the loss of their colleague at Rimuka Cemetery on Tuesday.
Their 16-year-old colleague, Albert Antonio, who died recently, was a founding member of the 068 Riders club.
All his colleagues, who are all teenagers, were at the cemetery to pay their last respects.
The club’s leader, Ashien Svosve, struggled to hold back tears as he revealed the reason they formed their cycling club.
“Albert was one of the young boys who joined 068 Riders when we formed it this year and, as a group, we have been shocked by his untimely death.
“We formed this club so as to stay away from the streets, drugs and substance abuse which is now prevalent among the youths.”
The 068 Riders Club is made up of teenagers drawn from the heart of Rimuka.
Virtually all its members are still in school. The members use their club, and its activities, as a weapon to try and stay clear of drug and substance abuse.
However, the journey hasn’t been smooth.
“We’re all very young but we are trying to stay away from drugs and substance abuse and acquiring new bikes is a major problem,” said Svosve.
“So, we’re appealing for donations or anything that we can use in our new-found love of biking and some of our members don’t even have cycling helmets and other safety items used by cyclists to avoid injuries.
‘‘Some of us are relying on using second-hand bicycles that we found dumped in some house backyards.”
Svosve revealed that the group recently undertook a road trip from Kadoma to Harare just for fun.
They plan to ride to another major city during the next schools holiday.
Kelvin Antonio, the father of the late Albert, said the pain of losing his son was unbearable.
“The passing on of my son came as a total shock, he was a promising youngster, and he had fallen deeply in love with his bike. I was so happy that it kept him busy and protected him from turning to drugs.”
