USA Team
We’re proud to report that a US Team has been present on every single FTW ride. During the rides we witness people, places and events that deeply transform our American perspective of the region. Perhaps this is why the US team has a high “alumni” rate of return – team members coming back for more excitement and enlightenment.
First USA Team
The participation of a meager US team (4 members) on the first ride, April 2004, was serendipitous. Americans are not connected to the network of European Union youth workshops where news of Follow the Women is widely circulated and from where many of the European teams originate.
In June, 2003, Octavia Taylor and her husband Steve were volunteering with the Quakers in Amman, Jordan and read about the proposed FTW ride in the Jordan Times. Octavia told her friend Cheryl Wolfe about the event and both women vowed to come on the inaugural ride. Colleen McGuire of New York City was alerted by a fellow bike activist who knew that the constellation of women, biking and the Middle East united three of her passions. Colleen enticed her twin sister, Cathleen, to come along. Somy Kim from California was in Damascus studying Arab cinema, but she rode with the Syrian team.
Octavia and Colleen have come each year except 2007, while Cheryl is batting a thousand with attendance on all rides.
Purpose of USA Team
Of all the forty-plus country teams involved in Follow the Women, the US team is an important team. That statement is offered out of an understanding that the United States plays a major role in the politics of the Middle East, especially with regard to considerable funding that is proffered by the US.
The presence of a U.S. team in FTW announces to the world, and especially to the residents of the region, that the US cares and its women are willing to be witnesses to what is happening in the Middle East. This is heartening for the residents of the Middle East countries who do not believe that the average US resident has a clear understanding of the dynamics of the conflict here or necessarily agree with how our tax dollars are being spent
The US team embraces FTW's motto with vigor: Go. See. Tell. Act.
Highlights of USA Team
Unique among all the teams, the USA Team has had three husband-wife members! Apparently, it's a 
Massachusetts thing -- that's where they hail from, except Mike who's also an Irishman. The husbands serve as bike mechanics or media documentarians.
Cheryl & Paul Wolfe
Kathleen Walker & Mike Lally
Octavia & Steve Taylor
2004 Ride Cat McGuire (opens new window) of New York is an accomplished palm reader and demonstrated her skills during the 2004 ride. At pit stops riders actually lined up to get a quick ten-minute reading from Cat, especially the Arab women where palmistry has been a serious tradition for centuries. Cat gave hour-long readings to Detta Regan, Hala Koury, Fares Kalles, among others. On subsequent rides Arab girls still come up to Colleen, Cat’s identical twin, with palms up asking, “Read my hand!” Colleen’s disappointing reply is, “My sister does that, not me.”
2005 Ride Family bonds add an intimate touch to an FTW ride. Mother and daughter, Susan and Josie Shagwert of Massachusetts, experienced the ride together. For Josie it was especially meaningful because her father, Susan’s husband, is from Syria, although he died in 1997. After the ride, Josie stayed on and spent time visiting her ancestral homeland, and she has returned in 2010 to to study Arabic for several months. Here are Josie's own words of what the ride meant to her:
We loved the idea of our first trip to the Middle East to be one with a message, which is the message of FTW: that we have the power to create peace in the world/Middle East; that women are powerful and can do this peace-making work; and that the bicycle itself sends a message of peace. We met incredible women (and men) from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Europe, Iran, Turkey and other places. The trip broadened our minds, strengthened our bodies, and unified us with a worldwide community that believes that peace is possible and working to make it a reality.
2007 Ride Upon returning from an FTW ride, most of us are eager to share what we witnessed with others, especially via a slideshow. Colleen McGuire of New York gave a presentation at Times Up!(opens new window) in 2006. Laurie Hartman of Vermont was in the audience and was taken by what she learned. Laurie invited a friend, Marcy Brown of Maryland, and the two went on the 2007 and 2008 rides. Laurie also blossomed into an activist on the Palestinian issue, a wholly new experience in her life.
2008 Ride Spring 2008 was a chilling time as Americans waited for George Bush to exit the world stage without provoking a war with Iran. Iranians were burdened with a counterpart version of a dangerous man in charge in the form of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Against this background, the US and Iran teams engaged in a symbolic gesture to defy the male chest-beating. The U.S. team presented the Iran team with origami peace cranes made by children in Massachusetts which the Iranians brought back for children in Iran. Read more at 2008 Ride PDF, page 3.
It is not often that FTW riders stay in the homes of local people, but this happened during the 2008 Ride when the US Team spent the night with a Palestinian family. Read Octavia Taylor's description of staying at Mutee'ah's home in the 2008 Ride PDF, page 7, photo right of US Team (click to enlarge)
2009 Ride Up to this year the FTW rides have been very East Coast dominated, but the California contingent changed all that. Six women from California, organized by the dynamic Betsy Schwartz, went above and beyond simply coming to ride. These ambitious angels raised a breathtaking $14,000 for FTW’s Palestine refugee camp playgrounds project. These monies were turned over to our local partners, Sharak. (opens new window)
US FTW coordinator Octavia Taylor and her husband, Steve, a veteran of the 2008 Ride, were blessed with the opportunity to live in Damascus for nine months. Steve received a Fulbright scholarship to study the Arabic language. How lucky for the Americans that Octavia was already in Syria when the 2009 Ride took place. During Octavia’s stay, she dutifully sent us colorful missives (opens new window) on a range of experiences, from shopping at the market to visiting the ancient ruins of Palmyra.
Click here for USA Team Members
Photo
Banner, several US team members, 2009, by Betsy Schwartz, US
Photo Gallery Top Left Laurie Hartman, right, of Vermont at Syria Peace Garden 2005 by Colleen McGuire, NY --
Top Center Colleen McGuire of New York smoking a "nargilah" in Beirut nightclub 2005 Top Right Pia Gallegos of New Mexico at Dead Sea, 2005, by Colleen McGuire, NY--
Middle Left, Marcy Brown of Maryland at Golan Heights 2008 by Colleen McGuire, NY
Middle Center, US Team members at Golan 2008 by Colleen McGuire, NY Middle Right, Jane De Jarnette of California with Arafat's horse in Jericho by Betsy Schwartz, US Bottom Left Colleen McGuire of NY and Mary Bennett of Massachusetts in Damascus by Martha Sara, Jordan Bottom Center Left to Right Kim Mander of Colorado, Iran journalist Hasan Sarbakhshian with laptop, Betty Poynton of Massachusetts, Marcy Brown of Maryland, by Colleen McGuire NY Bottom Right, California team Left to Right Top, Lilly Ann Popken, Marilyn Marzell, Betsy Schwartz, Jo Ann Smith, Janet Fogel, Jane De Jarnette (in California)