The 2010 CEBORIDE held in Wisconsin USA on July 17, was a hot and humid day for the 29 bikers who rode 100 miles in about 7.5 hours. Each of the bikers carried a picture of a Sarnelli House child on their backs to remind them of the purpose of the ride. At the end of the day they were greeted at Camp Vista by family and friends. Fr Chuck Beierwalters and Fr Dave Polek celebrated a Mass for the bikers which was followed by a dinner made by the volunteers.
The CEBORIDE starts at Camp Vista in Dundee, Wisconsin and all the bikers are usually in by 5.30am. The 100 miles of terrain is hilly but scenic, and the ride goes through the Kettle Moraine forest, north through farmland and back through the State Forest. The riders organize friends and relatives to sponsor them to complete the bike ride. This year CEBORIDE raised a fantastic US$85,000 for Sarnelli House.
The CEBORIDE ride came about when Fr Mike’s nephew - Sam Mueller and his new wife Molly from Fond du Lac USA, arrived at Sarnelli House in 2001 to visit with Fr Mike and the children. While they were there Molly taught batik painting to AIDS-infected mothers and after Sam was godfather for Kirk, a young boy dying of AIDS, he and Molly returned home to begin CEBORIDE, a 125-mile bike ride in a one day, to raise money for Sarnelli House.
Erin and Donielle with pictures of Eeu and Dottie
Cebo is the name of one of the first little girls with HIV/AIDS who came to Sarnelli House in 2001 when was 5 years old. Her parents had died from AIDS and her relatives were fearful of catching the disease from her. She was thin and frail, unwell with skin infections and she was malnourished. She was also terribly frightened and anxious, having been abandoned to strangers. After many trips to the hospital, injections and tests, Cebo was started on her ARV (AntiRetroViral) medication in November 2002 and got used to swallowing up to 8 pills twice a day. About 1 year later her health began to significantly improve. Cebo went on to be enrolled in school and now she is 16 years old and studying in B5 or Grade 5 at Rosario School in Viengkhuk. Cebo is still underweight and under the standard height for her age, and she has some problems with learning and speaking which is why she is in a lower class for her age. This is probably due to those early years when she had AIDS and the consequent damage it did to her little, growing body. But Cebo is a delight, always neat and tidy she takes great pride in her appearance and still loves wearing the colour pink. She now wears glasses which give her a studious look that belies her happy and sprite like nature. Nazareth House is now Cebo’s home and she lives there with 15 other teenage girls, just a short walk from Sarnelli House. She is very responsible about taking her ARV medications at 6am and 6pm everyday and she watches out for the other girls and reminds them to take theirs as well. Cebo is also very proud of Ceboride and considers herself lucky that so many people know a little of who she is.
Cebo (the blue-shirt girl with glasses) and the girls from Nazareth House say thank you
Special thanks are due to the organizers of CEBORIDE - Marian Sheridan, Mike Krolczyk and Maggie Shea.
