All posts by Michael Sabrio

Sewing Partners

Abuelas in Action, Honduras

Summer 2007

Las Mujeres de Delicias
Las Mujeres de Delicias

Abuelas in Action is a new non-profit looking to solve the problem of unemployment among women in Honduras. Our mission is to empower the low-income women in Honduras to break the cycle of unemployment by providing them access to skilled job training and materials in order to own and operate their own small businesses. Pilot Project: The School Uniform Project

Measuring fabric
Measuring fabric

Working off of the Pedals for Progress model, Abuelas in Action will provide interested women’s groups in Honduras with all the materials and training necessary in order to start a small business making school uniforms and selling them in the local market. The women will be required to attend 2 training workshops and will be financially responsible for all subsequent shipments of materials from Abuelas in Action. This ensures that the women will take vested interest in their business.

Why School Uniforms?

At work in the community center
At work in the community center

In order to attend seconday school in Honduras, the students are required to wear a uniform. Many students are unable to afford a new uniform and therefore cannot further their education. Women provided with low-cost fabric will be able to sell a better product at a lower price in the local market, thus enabling more children to attend secondary school.
 

New workshop almost completed
New workshop almost completed

The pilot School Uniform Project began in July 2007 with the Mujeres de Delicias, a group of women from the village of Delicias, Opatoro, Honduras. Delicias is a remote village in the municipality of Opatoro that is home to 30 families and around 100 children. There are 23 women in the Mujeres de Delicias women’s group and they have been working hard since 2007 to supply uniforms and clothing to the surrounding villages. This summer the Mujeres de Delicias, with the money they raised selling their products, were able to construct their own workshop building as well as a small store.

bicycles, Collectors

Westchester: A Well-planned Collection Turns Out Even Better Than Planned

by David McKay Wilson
Fall 2006 InGear

When the Westchester Cycle Club began planning a used bicycle drive for Pedals for Progress, we hoped to collect 150 bikes. That was enough to fill the truck we rented to deliver them to High Bridge, New Jersey, where Pedals for Progress is based. But then we partnered with several houses of worship, a few community groups, and we knew we’d need to rent a second truck. In fact, we needed every inch of three trucks, including Pedals for Progress’ own box truck, to fit the 543 bikes and 10 sewing machines we collected on April 1, 2006.

2006fallWestchesterVolunteerNone of us could’ve guessed when we first started planning that we’d hold the second largest collection in Pedals for Progress’ 15-year history. It’s a credit to the generous residents in the northern suburbs of New York City, who came in droves with their used bikes and checkbooks. Word of mouth, flyers, and Kenneth Edding’s article of the upcoming event in The Journal News generated lots of publicity. Of course, without all the cheerful volunteers who all came together in the sprawling parking lot behind Memorial United Methodist Church, we’d never have been so successful. They gathered at 8 a.m. that morning brimming with energy even though the weather report called for a 50 percent chance of rain. But Reverend Joe Agne assured us that he’d ordered up an ideal day. Soon, we saw patches of blue in the morning sky, and as the sun peeked through, some happy cardinals sang their sweet songs.

We didn’t have to wait long to get cranking. Our biggest donor, the Andrus Children’s Center in Yonkers, had delivered 65 bikes ahead of time. An official from the Children’s Center saw the article about the bike collection and called saying she already had bikes. Initially, she didn’t have a way to get them all to our lot in White Plains, nor did she have $650 to cover the $10-per-bike shipping charge. Sure enough, though, she found a local moving company willing to donate a truck to move them. And even though the Westchester Cycle Club already committed $750 to the event, a plea for additional contributions on the Club’s online message board raised $650 more to cover these bikes.

2006fallWestchesterProcessingSo when we arrived Saturday morning, 65 bikes were waiting to be addressed. That’s when Pedals for Progress CEO Dave Schweidenback, in his bright orange T-shirt and white bandanna, gave us all a quick lesson in how to process bikes for shipment: remove the pedals and Zip-tie them to the frame, loosen the stem bolts and turn the handlebars parallel to the frame, lube the chain. Once we got started, our first truck arrived with 25 bikes from Camp Olmstead in Cornwall-on-Hudson. This truck also held another 30 that a Westchester Cycle Club member had in her garage. These were donated by members of her synagogue and local school PTA. And we had to make a second trip to her house to retrieve 40 more bikes, including 20 donated by a local police department, which had cleaned out a storage room crammed with abandoned bikes. The PBA also kicked in $200 to help cover shipping costs.

Finally, Dave Schweidenback provided a valuable lesson in packing a truck to the gills with bikes. Bikes were put in side-by-side alternating front wheel forward then rear wheel forward. With the handlebars turned parallel to the frames, the bikes were flat enough to fit about 15 in the width of the truck. Once a row was complete a sheet of plywood was laid on top of the bikes and another row was stacked on top of the first. When all was done and loaded, the trucks were packed so tight there was barely enough space left to fit the buckets of tools.

2006fallWestchesterBikesAs we worked on filling the last truck, Reverend Agne’s weather guarantee dissolved in a deluge that soaked the volunteers in a surprisingly warm spring rain. No matter. We filled the truck, and by 1:45 p.m., our second team of drivers was on their way to New Jersey. That’s how we collected, processed, packed and delivered 543 bikes. There had been a job for everyone—a seven-year-old wheeled processed bikes for loading, teens earning community-service credits for high school packed the trucks, and senior citizens loosened pedals and bolts that hadn’t seen a wrench in decades. Finally, at a little after 6:00 p.m., our second truck returned from Jersey concluding a long but satisfying day.

In retrospect, it seems like we only touched the surface as we mined our region’s garages and basements for used bikes. We had 245 individuals bring 433 bikes. Three organizations brought an additional 110. Yet thousands of households are within a 20-mile radius of our collection site, and nearly every household has at least one unwanted bike collecting dust in a garage or basement. We just know there are more bikes for Pedals for Progress out there. There has to be. We’ll get those next year.

Guatemala, Sewing Partners

A Year-long Sewing Course Leads to a Career

Fall 2006 InGear

2006fallGuatLourdes

Lourdes Santiso Salizar took a sewing course at FIDESMA seven years ago. She took the year-long course due to lack of other employment opportunities. After she finished the course at FIDESMA, her parents helped her buy an industrial sewing machine and gave her a workshop space in their home. Today Lourdes runs a successful clothing business in San Andrés de Itzapa, where she custom tailors anything from shirts to wedding gowns. Lourdes now has so much work that she doesn’t even need to advertise her services.

bicycles, Guatemala

Santos Bar Balan — Mountain Bike Owner

Fall 2006 InGear

2006fallGuatSantos

Every day Santos uses his bicycle to travel the one-and-a-half kilometers from his house to his job at the local brick factory on the outskirts of San Antonio, Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Before he owned his bicycle, Santos had to walk to work as well as to his other activities. Now he moves easily from place to place without wasting time. He leaves work in the evening and still has enough time to get to his small farm and back home before dinner with his family. He even has more time on the weekends for socializing in the community and tending to his crops. Santos has also benefited from the bicycle mechanic course at FIDESMA. Over six months he learned everything he needed in order to maintain and repair his new bicycle. The standard of living for him and his family has already improved because of the bicycle he bought from FIDESMA.

bicycles, Uganda

Letter from Uganda

Fall 2005 InGear

This spring Pedals for Progress sent its second shipment to the Biikira health center in Uganda. Mulamata Charles recently sent us photographs of their projects. This work is possible due to the bicycle Mr. Kiibi, the health promoter, purchased through the health center.

 

Dear David,

These are some of the pictures I was able to send you. I will send more as the opportunity arises. Pedals for Progress has helped a lot with the revolving fund to uplift our poor people of the village. These are hard-working people who need small seed capital to uplift themselves from the abject poverty and unhygienic life-threatening conditions they are in. Mr. Kiibi plays a major role in training these people in simple basic knowledge which is essential for a better living.

Thank you,
Best regards
Mulamata Charles

 
2005fallUgandaPlantsBrother Leandro (our chairman, with a hat) is seen giving advice to Mr. Kiibi near him and a woman member of the local co-op tending to an Aloe Vera plant.

This is a money-generating activity. The woman sells the seedlings at 1500 Ugandan shillings each to other members who want to plant. The Aloe Vera plant is medicinal and is in demand locally from herbalists and skin-care product manufacturers. It is also a good household remedy for many ailments, such as minor burns, scalds or cuts, scrapes and sunburns. It promotes wound healing and helps prevent infection.

2005fallUgandaWashingHands

A village woman demonstrates the foot-operated hand-washing equipment which is used by people under Kiibi’s, care. Kiibi’s household cleanliness programs have greatly improved the domestic hygiene and has reduced visits to the hospital due to ill health caused by ignorance. It is more hygienic than holding the jerrycan with hand to wash after visiting the toilet. Now the homes under Kiibi’s care have clean houses, money-generating activities which include agriculture, animal husbandry, and local poultry production, etc.
 
 
 

2005fallUgandaBishopKagwaMeet Bishop John Baptist Kagwa of Masaka Uganda. He is an avid bicycle rider and he says that the exercise keeps him fit and allows him to enjoy visiting his parishioners. With the arrival of the second container he bought 3 more bicycles for his priests to encourage them to exercise! He is photographed here with Sister Antonia Nakiyaga and Mr. Kamoga the driver to the sisters.

bicycles, Sewing Partners

Rotary Homes of Hope Making a Difference in Ecuador

Fall 2005 InGear

2005fallEcuadorThreeGirlsAmong its latest efforts to assist some of those among the poorest in Ecuador, the Rotary Homes of Hope Project will ship a container of goods to the village of San Pablo, Ecuador. Included in the shipment will be 50 bicycles and 10 sewing machines supplied by Pedals for Progress. The District 7510 of Rotary International Homes of Hope Project began by building homes and expanded into building a village with a community infrastructure.

In the future, the Rotary hopes to provide the community with a regular safe supply of water, a breakfast program for the children, and education and training to help create employment opportunities.

bicycles, Nicaragua

Pablo Urbina, Nicaragua

Fall 2005 InGear

2005fallNicaragua_pablourbinasmPablo Urbina is a clothes salesman in Jinotepe, Carazo, Nicaragua, who uses his bicycle as a store. Before he bought his bicycle from EcoTec he had to rely on public transportation to go from village to village selling his goods. Now he saves money and can work on his own schedule by using his bicycle.

bicycles, Nicaragua

Mario Artola, Nicaragua

Fall 2005 InGear

2005fallNicaragua_marioartolasmMario Artola bought his bike from EcoTec 2 years ago. He is an agricultural engineer in Jinotepe, Carazo, Nicaragua, and has to travel 12km daily to his work site. When Mario uses his bike instead of taking the bus he saves 12 Cordabas daily, which translates into 360 Cordobas a month.

He has also referred his 12 employees to EcoTec where they have bought bikes. He has been very satisfied with his bike, only having minimal expenses for new tires and grease over the last two years. Mario is now looking to purchase a second bike for himself.

Nicaragua, Sewing Partners

Teaching Sewing in Nicaragua

Spring 2005 InGear

Pedals for Progress is a non-profit corporation devoted to global economic development. It has strived to improve economic prosperity in developing communities through a simple, yet challenging, bicycle collection, shipping, and distribution process. Our organization, however, is much more than biking enthusiasts trying to help others. Over the years we have supplemented our bicycle shipments with other products to help achieve the same economic development goals. And the single most significant item has been the portable sewing machine. Including sewing machines in our bicycle shipments has been a tremendous success and one true success story has involved Profesora Rosa Palacio Hernando.

spring2005RivasSewing
Rosa, a 5th and 6th grade elementary school teacher at the General José Maria Montaya School, in Rivas, Nicaragua, has been sewing all of her life. Rosa is taller than the average Nicaraguan woman, and, while growing up, “store-bought” clothing never quite fit her tall frame. At an early age Rosa’s mother taught her how she could alter “store-made” clothing to fit her better and Rosa soon discovered that she had a natural talent for sewing. Initially she took great pleasure in altering store-bought clothing and soon she began sewing her own clothing.

Rosa’s sewing activity was always a personal activity, her personal hobby, but that all changed one day when one of her student’s parents came to her elementary school and offered working sewing machines to the school if sewing classes would be included in the school’s curricula. When Rosa heard this news, she rushed to the administration office where she offered to teach the classes during the day and volunteered to teach community education sewing classes in the evenings.

Rosa now teaches the basics of sewing to 11–12 year-old boys and girls during the day and to adults, as necessary, several evenings each week. The adults who come to the school typically know how to operate the machines, so they use the machines for their own family needs and to produce different items to sell in the marketplace.

For Rosa, this work has become a dream come true. She is able to combine her passion for teaching with her lifelong love of sewing. She originally ventured into teaching because she wanted an opportunity to help make a positive change in her community. She remains dedicated to being a 5th and 6th grade teacher because educating children is the future of her community. But now she gains “extra” satisfaction by teaching sewing to both children and adults, and volunteering her time to keep the donated Pedals for Progress sewing machines fully functioning. Her efforts are very clearly and positively impacting the lives of many people in Rivas, Nicaragua.