On 28 May 2016 we loaded our ninth shipment to Albania: 520 bikes and 20 sewing machines. This makes 4,422 bikes and 175 sewing machines we’ve sent to Albania.
Category Archives: Albania
Bicycles Support Roma Children in Albania
by Ened Mato
Spring 2016 InGear
December 2015: 2 babies died from the cold. They belonged to the Roma community, one of the most marginalized communities in Albania. Since 1990 they have been in constant movement.
They raise their homes near rivers so they have access to water for drinking and cleaning. Simultaneously they do some of the best work that humans do for their planet, which is recycling. But they suffer, they have always suffered in Albania. They have more than 25 years of living on trash heaps and wandering in the open air.
The Roma people in Albania alone have 500 of their children at risk from the cold, the winter rains, and from poverty. They are full of life. You can find them everywhere, separating trash from recyclables. You can find them in the street begging for money, or in bars selling almonds and walnuts.
They are everywhere, and often are victims of violence, exploitation, or abuse. You can see these kids everywhere except at school! None of them go to school for a simple reason: they are unwashed and unkempt, and are too embarrassed to attend school, where they feel rejected. Their problem lies precisely in their living conditions. This is the point where all the problems of this community begin. Lacking adequate living conditions, they lack the opportunities that others have. So because of the lack of sanitation in their communities they do not go to school but instead go out on the street. It is a vicious circle from which it is so difficult to disconnect the dots. This is why we hope to attack the problem at its root.
All the money from the sale of the first 100 bicycles from our recent P4P container will go to provide the first house trailers of the First Roma Park in Albania. The trailers will ensure minimal living conditions, adapted also to their nomadic culture. We will supply house trailers to 40 families with 150 children. Pedals for Progress will be the catalyst of this change.
These children will leave the streets and will return to school. They will have the opportunity to be educated and they will have a future. But what is most important is that these Roma will have a roof over their heads for the first time in 25 years. There will be no more babies dying from the cold.
Loading a Container for Albania
On Saturday, 14 November 2015, a beefed up P4P crew loaded the eighth container bound for EcoVolis, our partner in Albania.
Loading is one of the P4P activities that happens behind the scenes, and the loading is a marvel to behold. These loadings take a combination of long experience, mechanical engineering, spatial awareness, young backs and muscles, brute strength, stamina, pizza, and the luck of the draw on what we have to load.
Containers are not built to fit bicycles, so there are delicate geometric calculations on what goes where. Adult bikes are our primary product, but we always have kids’ bikes, too, of several different sizes, each with its own personal preferences about where and how it wants to be loaded. We use plywood and cardboard to stack and separate the bikes. We use whatever parts and tools we have to fill the nooks and crannies in the rows of bikes.
Cost of shipping is the same no matter what the container weighs, so the idea is to pack it as full as possible. Dave’s guidelines for processing bikes are very specific: pedals off, handlebars turned sideways and down, seat lowered – we aim to make the bike as narrow and as short as possible.
A completely empty trailer is a daunting sight, but it starts to fill up pretty quickly. When all was said and done, here’s what went into the Albania container on Saturday: 483 bikes, 34 sewing machines, 10 wheels, 20 tires, 8 baskets, and 1 child bike-seat.
Those were the larger items. The smaller items went into 43 gym bags that get stuffed wherever they fit: 31 sets of pedals, 7 sets of training wheels, 1 socket toolkit, 1 pump, 13 helmets, 3 saddles, 2 handlebar bags, 6 sets of pegs, 5 inner tubes, 2 brake assemblies, 2 handfuls of nuts and bolts, and 1 chain-breaking tool.
As Dave says, there’s no good way to finish the packing. We pack the left side all the way, then shut one of the two rear doors. Then we fill every remaining cubic millimeter in a way, we hope, that won’t cause a huge landslide when the container is opened. Our partners have learned to open the doors gingerly on arrival!
Klodi, a New Bike Owner in Albania
by Ened Mato
Fall 2015 InGear
Pedaling towards freedom… This is a story about a 7-year-old boy named Klodi. Because of a vendetta initiated by his father and the resulting threats from another family, Klodi has lost his opportunity to go to school and to learn basic mathematics and how to read and write. Klodi is one of 70 similar children who share the same isolation from society and isolation from opportunities.
Ecovolis donated the first 3 bikes to these children in the Malesia and Madhe region of Albania. The Malesia and Madhe region is in the far northwest of Albania, about 100 miles from the capital, Tirana, where the P4P partner Ecovolis runs the bike sharing program described in the Summer 2011 InGear newsletter. The Malesia and Madhe region is home to about 40,000 of the 3 million people of Albania. The region lies on the Albanian border with Montenegro. To the west lies the Adriatic Sea, which separates Albania from the bootheel of southeastern Italy.
We’ve had a very positive reaction from the community and the media, so we decided to expand our program to the children of 20 other families who remain confined to their homes because of vendettas.
What we saw when we visited these families was really different from what we usually see on TV, as this subject has been covered by the media in Albania many times. We knew of difficult living conditions; what we learned was that not only were the situations unchanged for many years but that children were under even more pressure than we thought. Not only did the families have little to no access to education. The children were also robbed of their childhood in other ways, because a majority of the families had little to no income and they could not afford the simplest of toys.
We were accompanied by a local volunteer teacher, Liljana Luani, who teaches these children basic reading skills and math. She told us many details of how these families lived and survived; it was really sad how little was done for them.
We talked to many children. Most of them, because they had no social life, were terribly withdrawn. They spent all day with their families but they made no friends and were eager to do something new. They did not know that we were coming to visit, and you could see the surprise and pleasure in their eyes to meet new people and receive a gift most loved by children, this small symbol of freedom – a bicycle. We spent some time with each of them in order to learn their names, ages, and daily routines. But they could not take their eyes off the bikes. Even though the Malesia and Madhe region is very near Shkodra, which historically is the Albanian bike capital, half of the children didn’t know how to ride a bike. We helped them with the basics and did our best to equip and modify the bikes to the needs and pleasures of the children.
We had a very positive reaction to our social programs. The media drew attention to the problem once more, but the coverage was different: this time there were more smiles. As we made clear on every single occasion, we know the needs of these children are big and various. If we could, we would do more, give more. Equipping these children with bikes is a pleasure for us, because it’s a pleasure for them.
We are talking with Liljana about giving sewing machine to some of the mothers so they can create handicrafts to sell and raise their income. We will let you know the details as our plans evolve.
Success is Not Just Measured in Wheels and Pedals
by Patricia Hamill
Fall 2015 InGear
Our long-time readers know by now that we are especially pleased when we report on having joined with new partners or on the expansion of existing programs. The day-to-day operations and successes are, of course, very important to us and all of our volunteers’ efforts are important to note; but, sometimes something happens that just makes us say “Wow.” This is one of those moments.
We work on website and newsletter content throughout out the year, regularly communicating with our partners and receiving updates on individuals and communities who have put the bicycles and sewing machines to use for access to employment or for starting businesses. Very often, we are thankful to post stories of families with young children that can now go to school and be properly dressed in new uniforms, and our members have read about young men and women who now have access to employment in relatively distant locations without having to leave home permanently or for many days. They have tools to make commuting and business ownership easier. This time, we have news of work for people in more advanced years, and this work is an offshoot of the initial bicycle partnership. In other words, our members’, partners’, and volunteers’ dedicated attention has helped to create a new employment opportunity for people in Albania and, hopefully soon, many other countries.
The good word came from Ened Mato, the director of Ecovolis, a bike rental and sharing business. As readers may recall, this program is located in Tirana, Albania, and has been doing quite well. Ened just filled us in on recent events and below is his message (translated and edited, but as true to the original as possible):
The story takes place in the city of Pogradec. Lately we have had many girls coming to buy bicycles and many of them asked for baskets to go on them. Since we didn’t have any, we had to go to some other shop to buy the baskets and then install them so the girls would be happier with the bikes. We saw the demand for these baskets increasing and we thought that we could help to increase someone’s income by hiring them to make baskets for us. Through some contacts we had, we gave this idea to a lovely group of 5 women: Margarita Lacka, Medulie Laze, Zhaneta Murrizi, Sevasti Vako and Entela Merka. All are well above 50 years of age and interested in continuing to work or to gain work and, since they were very eager to take on the job, we thought to try having 50 baskets made and sold.
The life in the village is difficult, and whoever visits these areas knows that each family is barely getting by economically. Most families have 2 or more children, so any alternative for income that becomes available to them is received with gratitude and motivation. Each day these devoted women have to take care of their many home duties and care for their animals and plants and they still find time to work upon the baskets. Every time we have visited them we are greeted by warm smiles and hugs.
Each basket is made with a cost of 650 lek (approximately $5) and at the shop they are sold for 800 lek (approximately $6.20). We try to keep the price to a minimum in order to stimulate this initiative as a social one and not as a “for profit”.
For the initial investment, a monetary sum from the bike sales was gathered and was given to them. Each day this small group creates up to 3 baskets and, for the next batches, we are working together to have more designs. Each basket comes with a pair of small leather straps for mounting. These straps come from the reuse of old leather clothes (jackets, trousers and belts). We are also trying to make the baskets even more attractive by preparing colorful ribbons around them to match the bike color. These ribbons are also made from old clothes.
We currently work with baskets mounted on the front of the bike, but we really want to have more alternatives to offer (even the double basket mounted on the back rack). We are planning to work with batches of 100 baskets and accompanying straps and ribbons. There is a growing interest from girls in Tirana for pedaling, and, if this initiative can make it more attractive to them, we will continue coming up with more like this one.
I hope this story makes you as happy as it made us.
Best wishes,
Ened Mato
Ecovolis Director
Albania Update
by Ened Mato
Spring 2015 InGear
It has been a frenzy driven period for us. In between the activities we are organizing many society projects and we are preparing for many more.
I am more than happy to tell you about Kidical Mass, which is a younger version of Critical Mass, and it has been a success for parents and children alike. The weather here is also very harsh on bikers but as soon as it gets a bit warmer and a bit less rainy we will return with this project as it was a wonderful occasion for parents to spend time with their children while doing something fun along the way. There was a significant participation in our last events in the year 2014 and we are constantly told how eagerly people await the return of these events in 2015. Participation was enabled by the many and many children’s bikes you sent us, and we really hope to draw attention to these bikes because not only they are (probably) the most entertaining gifts for a child but also the healthiest.
I must thank you for the sewing machines. We are currently putting them to use in a small project for a small economic empowerment of families in the north of Albania, where conditions are difficult to live and survive. As soon as we get some results and individual perspectives of the project, I’ll let you know and maybe we can include those in the newsletter.
Also I want to tell you of a very important project for us. We are currently totally engaged to make it work. With the sales of the last 2 months from the bikes (and of months ahead) we are working to plant 1000 trees near a landfill site called Sharra, with the hope of a better environment for the adjacent villages and the general area where the fumes from the landfill make living hard. “Plant Your Tree” and Ecovolis have the motivation to make this work. Phase One is three days away with a first step of 1000 trees, and based on the participation we get we are going to plan and go all the way until we hit the target of 1500 trees (and who knows how many more later). Soon enough I’ll have some photographic material to send to you so you can also give impressions and include it in the newsletter.
There have also been smaller scaled projects but with a considerable success upon drawing attention of the public towards a greener living in general and biking in a more specific manner.
Best regards,
Ened
PASS/Ecovolis: P4P Partner in Albania
PASS (Programii Alternativave Sociale Stimuluese, Social Stimulating Alternative Program) was established in 2002 with the goal of encouraging community action and raising public awareness of local social and environmental issues in the Albanian capital city of Tirana. PASS activities include operating a Welcome Center for families in need, involving local residents in resolving community problems through its Volunteer Action Movement, supporting the AKSES Program to foster the education and employment of rural youth, aiding the transition from school to work through the Employment Office, and facilitating youth community engagement through the Civil Youth Project.
With help from Pedals for Progress and the George Soros Open Society Foundations in Albania (OSFA), PASS established a Tirana Community Bicycle program, including the bike-sharing program Ecovolis.
Ecovolis
Ecovolis (EcoBike) is a bike-sharing program created by PASS in Tirana, Albania. Ecovolis promotes ecological transportation by giving Tirana cleaner air, adding a civic European practice that helps in the economic, social, and environmental development of our community.
Not only will Ecovolis provide jobs for workers maintaining and managing the bicycles, but the bikes themselves will help reduce the social and economic isolation of suburban and rural communities by providing dedicated transportation from the margins of Tirana to the center. An additional effect of the program will be to raise awareness among citizens of the bicycle as a fun, healthy, and environmentally sound method of transportation.
For more information:
- Click here to see a P4P report on Ecovolis from July 2012.
- For a P4P report on the bike program in its early days (April 2011), click here.
- Click here to see the Ecovolis facebook page.
- This blogspot on Ecovolis has great photos of the bikes and the people who work on them.
Update on Our Partner Ecovolis
by Patricia Hamill
Fall 2014 InGear
Just recently, we received some positive updates from Ened Mato, CEO of Ecovolis in Albania. He announced that there have been 4 successful projects put in motion that were made possible through our partnership with them.
The first project he told us about was the development of an entrepreneurial endeavor called Trasta o Nona (The Sack is the Best). With the 20 sewing machines P4P was able to ship to them, 5 disadvantaged young people gained employment making cloth bags to replace the heavily depended on plastic bags from stores. In three months, 3,000 bags were sold. Even better is the fact that their overhead so far is 0 since the material comes from coffee companies and donated clothing.
The second success story is about a movement called Release Lanes or the Free Bike Lanes Movement that was started by thousands of bicycle enthusiasts in Tirana. They are actively protesting the lack of bike lanes and poor driver awareness that the cyclists must deal with daily. Funding from P4P’s involvement was the catalyst for this activism and all participants readily acknowledge our part in their cause.
As most of you know, not all of the bicycles shipped elsewhere go solely to new owners to use. In some cases, as with Ecovolis, the cycles are sold to the public and then the funds collected are used for improving the lives of the local population. For instance, the first $7,000 (USD) earned from a bicycle sale was directly transformed into something called Ecological Gardens. Five public gardens in Tirana that were languishing from neglect, now have solar panels installed, parking for bicycles, and recycling receptacles. All make these locations cleaner and more relaxing now.
Ened also informed us that some funds collected in April from bike sales was put to use building small freestanding “libraries” in some of the parks and playgrounds in Tirana. Children are able to take a book out of the little library and then return it for another. Lastly, some of the bikes at the time of the sale were reserved for the children’s daycare center Shtwpiza e Ngjyrave (House of Colors) so that the little ones would have more options for playtime.
As their web site states, Ecovolis was created to be “ . . . a program that will forever change the way people perceive [Tirana], how they experience and perceive transportation, creating a more vibrant city, a place where people want to work and live with a quality and entertaining environment.” In these days of reinventing ourselves and putting concerted effort into recycling all that we can, it’s always gratifying to learn how the donated bicycles and sewing machines from the States become more than used cycles or machines elsewhere. They become clean energy sources, earth friendly bags made by newly employed people, books for children, and even garden plots. It might be time to take a trip to see Tirana’s improvements in person.
Give Smiles With a Bicycle!
by Ened Mato
Spring 2014 InGear
How nice it is to donate a smile! It is a grim fact that some Albanians face the indifference of passers by and the silence of fellow citizens in general. Many children are mired in a cycle of hopeless days without experiencing the joys of a real childhood and, confused, stare straight into the future without a sense of hope. Nearly 120 of these children at the Colourful Lodge and its twin centers, every day, find not only hospitality, accommodation and a warm meal, but above all the care, love and why not, the image of what they lack and miss: Home!
In the framework of the initiative which has already made possible the delivery of 100 bicycles in 10 similar centers in Albania, the New Year’s holidays at the Colourful Lodge came under the rhythm of chiming bicycle bells that were donated by Ecovolis in collaboration with Pedals for Progress. Ecovolis representatives spent the holidays with these wonderful children, helping them learn to pedal the colorful bicycles that they, before, could only watch go by on the noisy thoroughfares of the capital city. The little ones learned that use of these bicycles created an excellent opportunity to secure a beautiful, clean, green and friendly environment to live in, quite different from the dusty wild roads of the city they wander every day.
This is not all. The people from Ecovolis also promised that they would work with the children every week, to continue helping them ride safely and have fun. For these children it was wonderful discovering that bicycles from Pedal for Progress were previously used by their American peers, whose stories and names were shared.
It was so miraculous to see the smile on a young boy named Zino. He was the first to learn to ride a bike and even swore that one day he would become the fastest cyclist in the world. Little Izidora, who spent the day cleaning the windshields of “four-wheels” vehicles as they call them, said that she loved the bike exactly because it did not deliver those “disgusting fumes and that disturbing noise.” A child named Abel immediately began calculating the increased number of packages sold, if he was to rely on his own bike instead of his tiny legs.
One of the girls, Mira, she begged for one last ride and said she would have loved to have her own bicycle so she would have the opportunity to visit her mother during the day and show her her earnings. When she was told that there would be no “last ride” because those bicycles would be staying at the Colourful Lodge, her happiness was immense. Her felicity was shared among Adrian, Ihsira, Ledio, Daklea, Oriada, Teuta, Laert , Esdalin, Landi, Artemis, Donna and dozens of other children, whose smiles were the most precious gift for the representatives of Ecovolis. “This is one of those cases, when you start making a gift, but you are the one receiving the most wonderful gift of all. To us this great gift was the smile of these kids,” Ened Mato, the Director of Ecovolis said. “Ecovolis in collaboration with Pedals for Progress is determined to continue this initiative. So far we have donated 100 bicycles in 10 centers and we are merely getting started. We will make other children smile by riding bicycles. And it’s not just about entertainment, but also presenting to them the vision of a beloved city, clean, and safe, since they are precisely the ones who walk on these streets every day.”
It is great discovering that besides the gift of a smile, there has been bestowed upon these children a chance for a new world view—a new, achievable dream for those who all they have had are dreams. All this from the presence of a simple bicycle. In the mean time, they are riding—and smiling—without even knowing that this may be may be a ride towards the future.
House of Colors – Albania
Dear David,
This Christmas we donated another 20 bicycles to “Shtwpiza e Ngjyrave”, “House of Colors”. This house is a kids’ center that hosts more than 120 children every day. These children are in a “street situation”, working and begging. “Make them smile” is the campaign of bike donations. This is the seventh kids’ center P4P bicycles have supported, with more than 100 children’s bicycles, used by more than 600 poor, abandoned children. Our volunteers have scheduled every Wednesday to spend 1 hour at these centers to teach them cycling and have a good time together. Yes, together we can “make them smile again”.
Best wishes for 2014,
Sincerely
Ened
