Participants brave rain to complete 60km Remembrance Walk
By David Mujuni Participants in the Joe Walker Remembrance Road Safety Walk defied many odds on Sunday November 19th, when they completed the 60-kilometre walk aimed at honouring road crash victims. The walkers converged as early as 5:30am at UMA, Lugogo in Kampala ahead of the memorable relay walk spearheaded by road safety advocate Joseph Beyanga commonly known as Joe Walker. Fired up for the task, several teams composed of six people fronted their starting members who were given batons that they held onto for 10 kilometres before handing them over to the next teammate. The first group hit the road at about...
Joe Walker to honour road crash victims in 60km walk
By David Mujuni Road safety advocate Mr Joseph Beyanga commonly known as Joe Walker is set honour road crash victims in a 60km walk slated for Sunday, November 19, 2023 (the UN Remembrance Day). Speaking to journalists at Jubilee Allianz Insurance offices along Parliamentary Avenue in Kampala, Joe Walker noted that the world will pause for a moment to remember 1.35 million people killed in road crashes every year. In Uganda, that number was 4,534 in 2022. He says the relay walk will see each six-member team covering 60km with each participant walking 10km. “If you look at the situation of road safety, it's...
Walking Clubs: How it started vs how it’s going
More than a month ago, Joe Walker launched the Walking Clubs which were set up to bring together people from all walks of life, interested in walking as a lifestyle or as a form of physical exercise within their neighborhoods. Filder Kobugabe shares her experience so far. I started my journey of walking, around early June when preparing for the 45-kilometre walk. Before that, I had taken almost a year without jogging or doing any type of exercise, which was not good. I was really unfit. By the time I joined the Joe Walker community, I had weighed myself and discovered...
Kampala Hill to Hill Walk: A tale of road safety awareness, physical and mental triumph
By David Mujuni The distance was 45km. The time to depart was 6am on Saturday June 17, 2023. The route would see the team walking from the starting point at Sheraton Hotel Parking, through the town, onto Bugolobi, then to Makindye, over to Namirembe, then to Wandegeya and back to the hotel parking. This was yet another activity that Mr Joseph Beyanga commonly known as Joe Walker was going to do as part of his efforts to raise awareness about the increasing road crashes in Uganda. The Kampala Hill-to-Hill walk presented another opportunity for the walkers to spread the road safety...
Joe Walker, partners visit accident victims at Mulago Hospital
By David Mujuni Road safety activist Joseph Beyanga commonly known as Joe Walker and friends on Wednesday visited and commiserated with accident victims admitted at Mulago National Referral Hospital. The visit is part of their activities as they prepare for the Kampala 45-kilometre walk slated for Saturday, June 17, 2023. The group delivered assorted items including sugar, bread, soap and others to the patients, and encouraged them, saying they are in the right hands, at Mulago Hospital. The team was hosted by Dr. Rose Byanyima, the hospital’s Executive Director. Addressing journalists on Wednesday, Beyanga noted that many people would not be driving if...
Joe Walker set for Kampala road safety drive
By David Mujuni Road safety advocate Mr Joseph Beyanga commonly known as Joe Walker is set to walk again in another road safety awareness drive. Mr Beyanga has announced that he will be hitting the road for a 45km road safety awareness walk come June 17, 2023, in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. He made the revelation during a road safety awareness Twitter space hosted by Hovita on Tuesday evening. “We are doing Kampala walk on 17th June, Hill to Hill 45 kilometres. We are doing all this for road safety. We have activities like painting zebra crossings, visiting the victims of road crashes, and...
Joe Walker, Minister Kabuye headline Car-free Day
By David Mujuni In a bid to reduce air pollution, road safety champion, Joseph Beyanga commonly known as Joe Walker alongside State Minister for Kampala and Metropolitan affairs, Mr. Kabuye Kyofatogabye led a group of walkers as Uganda held a car-free day in Kampala on Sunday March 26, 2023 under the theme "road safety and air quality." Minister Kyofatogabye who was among those who preferred riding to walking highlighted the need for encouraging non-motorized corridors. “Can you imagine without police people managed to organize themselves?” Kyofatogabye said, adding that if the use of non-motorised corridors was encouraged and people observed the cycling...
Joe Walker commended by Jubilee Allianz
Joe Walker and friends were on Thursday, March 9th, commended and appreciated for the walk to Mbale, by Jubilee Allianz at the Railway Grounds in Kampala, where the company was participating in the Annual Insurance Week. In a campaign dubbed #TooYoungtoDie, Joseph Beyanga (commonly known as Joe Walker), with his friends and colleagues walked over 240km to Mbale to raise awareness about road safety. Jubilee Allianz was one of the sponsors of the walk and provided the team with Shs5 million to cater for logistics and educational materials, something that Joe Walker said was a big boost to the campaign. “Thank you...
Kampala to Mbale walk: What we saw, heard and how to make our roads safer
The #JoeWalker Kampala to Mbale trek was a different challenge from what we had done earlier. It was a shorter route, but a rough road for half the journey, and had more reckless drivers and harsher weather conditions. It also had however, rich and insightful engagements. Pedestrians As we streamed out of Nakawa eastwards, we were embarking on a rough unfriendly road that would be our cup of tea for the next 125km till we got to Tirinyi Road. With more people walking than cars on the road, the experience of a pedestrian on most of our roads is still a nightmare....
Day Two: Memories of the past informing what we need for the future
It threatened to be a long and brutal journey today with 45km plus to cover in such a short time. So we set off very early. By 5.55am we were out of the door and on the road. Our first brief stop-off for a cup of tea to warm us up was at Bannz Café where we met several people, including escorts of VIPs who said they were following the walk keenly. It made me hope that people are picking the message on road safety. Before we got there however, what struck me was seeing many parents along taking their children...
