By Jenny Doren
December 7, 2012 - 11:15 pm
A family trip to Africa in 2005 brought out the giving spirit in a young man who is now a Washington-Lee High School senior.
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Winston Duncan noticed that most people walked - no matter the distance - for everything.
Every year since then, Winston has collected bicycles for African villages.
And tomorrow is a big donation day.
Getting the bikes is fairly easy. But getting the money for shipping them overseas is where he hits a roadblock.
He believes the bikes can change lives.
"If they get those bikes they can get to their education," he says. They can get to the food, to the town, everything they need."
He got that realization at just 10 years old, while vacationing in Africa with his mom.
His eyes zeroed in on a young boy who kept walking and walking and walking.
"We pulled over and gave him some shirts and some small items that most people around here would just throw away. They would just be extra, but the look on his face of joy and the smile that he had was really influential to me."
So influential that he returned home and founded the charity Wheels to Africa.
The motto? "Changing lives one bike at a time."
The mission kicked into high gear after a chance encounter with a young man on an Arlington basketball court.
"Winston, now we became friends and we are so passionate about changing the world," says Deng Juac who grew up in South Sudan.
The 23-year-old fled to America as a teenager and considers his new friend a hero.
The pair are trying to round up at least 1,000 bikes for Juac's hometown. But they're hitting a hurdle.
It costs about $15-20 per bike to ship them.
They're also selling t-shirts for $20 bucks.
Saturday marks the seventh annual bike collection drive.
You can drop off an old two-wheeler at various schools in Maryland and Virginia from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
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