On April 24, 2003, Papa Amadou Touré dropped off his suitcase in Montreal. A medical graduate, the young Senegalese dreamed of becoming a neurosurgeon. Unable to have his diplomas recognized, he had to give up on this dream and pedal hard to create new ones.
Twenty years later, Papa Amadou, proud of the progress made, obtained official recognition from Vélo Québec this week. Instead of treating brain tumours, the founder of Caravane, la grande pédalée has become a sort of one-of-a-kind bicycle shrink. He has been treating differently for nearly 15 years, teaching cycling to people who never had the chance to learn during childhood. Thanks to its bicycle school for adults, more than 3,000 people – especially immigrant women – have learned to pedal.
By making Papa Amadou one of its honorary members, Vélo Québec wanted to salute his remarkable contribution to the development of “cycling culture”, says its program director, Magali Bebronne, specifying that equity in access to cycling has become an unavoidable issue.
“One person at a time, Papa Amadou gets people to ride their bikes. And he’s touched thousands of people like that over the years. »
I had the opportunity to meet Papa Amadou when he started1. He told me at the time that his typical client was a North African woman over 35 years old. If his school still attracts a majority of immigrant women – not a week goes by without him receiving a bowl of couscous as a gift! –, over time and word of mouth, the portrait has diversified. The oldest of her students is Emma Béliveau, a lady who, at 75, overcame her fear of cycling. Her most notable student is Phillip, a child living with an intellectual and physical disability.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Father Amadou Toure
At Vélo Québec’s annual general meeting on Tuesday, it was precisely Phillip’s father, William Clark, who came to present Papa Amadou, telling how he had succeeded where many had failed before him.
For years, the father had tried unsuccessfully to teach his son to ride a bike. He called on private physiotherapists and occupational therapists. “Nothing seemed to work. »
Exhausted, the father was almost resigned: his disabled son, already subscribed to exclusion, would also be excluded from this activity. When he heard about Papa Amadou, he emailed him in desperation.
He was so open-minded and open-hearted and so much more patient than myself as a father! It was a godsend for my son and for me!
William Clark, father of Phillip
Little by little, Papa Amadou managed to work on the child’s self-confidence. The father will never forget that autumn day when, after months of diligent work, he had the immense happiness of seeing his son pedal without small wheels.
“You had to see the expression on his face… He was so proud of himself. He was screaming: I said it! I said it! »
Now 11, Phillip rides his bike every weekend with his family and proudly talks about it with his peers. “It has become in a way the symbol not only of his social and family integration, but also of his ability to overcome marginalization. »
Last year, on the eve of a school trip, teacher Laurence Caron also called on the invaluable services of Papa Amadou for her students at Henri-Bourassa school, in a disadvantaged area of Montreal North. “In our environment, it’s not uncommon for students to not know how to ride a bike. And our graduating students had to go cycling on medieval ramparts in Italy… So they had to know how to pedal! »
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
The teacher knocked on several doors before falling on Papa Amadou. “His approach with the students was really caring and very flexible. »
While Papa Amadou was teaching the teenagers, children playing in the nearby park stopped him and said, “Hey! I want to learn too! »
Since then, other teachers have asked him to work with their students.
After all these years, Papa Amadou feels more like a psychotherapist than a cycling teacher. Of course, there is a technique to teach. But the essential has much more to do with life skills than with know-how. Listening, compassion, patience, the ability to create a bond of trust…
The hardest part is not riding a bicycle. “The hardest part is overcoming the fear of falling. »
Learning to ride a bike is like learning to live in exile. “Arriving in a new society, having the impression of losing ground. Having no control… Feeling like drowning. And then, slowly, learn not to be afraid of falling, to know that you can get up.
Papa Amadou knows all this, he who had the feeling of “fartting his face” properly when his dream of becoming a doctor here was shattered. “For years, my father did not speak to me. With my bike stories, for him, it’s as if I had missed my life. »
They reconnected recently, after the son had informed his father in Senegal that his work to democratize the practice of cycling was beginning to be recognized in Quebec.
Listening to the testimony of Mr. Clark, so moved to see his child spinning on a bicycle thanks to Papa Amadou, I thought that his father had reason to be proud of this son on the other side of the ocean who, far from he missed his life, changes lives with great pedaling.