by Andrei Rusanovschi
Fall 2005 InGear

He started repairing old Soviet bikes in his apartment to earn money for food. He built up his skill of talent and sweat. Bikes have changed his way of life and he changed the way bikes run across Stefan Voda and, ultimately, across Moldova.

Stefan Voda is a small city, situated not far from the Black Sea, and not too far from the capital of the Republic of Moldova, Chisinau, but far enough to have its unique salt and quietness.

Since ’91, after the fall of Soviet Union, many aspects of Moldova’s infrastructure were ruined, including the roads and public services.

Stefan Voda’s public transport system has never been petted; by anybody. The system has simply never existed. That is why bikes play such an important role in connecting the so-called private sector with the center of the town.

In Stefan Voda the bike shop is in the building of the Maria Biesu School of Arts. Walking down the steps to the shop one senses little by little the smell of rubber. The smell has already became characteristic and is readily associated with bikes — no other place in Stefan Voda has that many and such a big variety of them. Everyone knows “if you want good bikes at good prices, go the store in the basement.”

The bike shop, once a messy and unorganized place, now looks like it found a master. The room that once was too small to house two hundred bikes is now transformed into a neat bike store and a fitting shop, accommodating four hundred plus bikes of different sizes, models and function.

When you enter the shop you see an energetic guy, always busy with fitting the bikes and making the place better. He even makes his own bike stands, inventing modifications, building bikes virtually from nothing. In comparison, it is quite simple to prep bikes in such good condition as those from Pedals for Progress.

To a big extent, it is due to Valeriu that the Moldova #3 project became possible, or at least potentially viable, says Vitalie Rusanovschi, director of Center Rural21, the NGO that administers the project in Moldova.

Valeriu started repairing bikes in his small one-bedroom apartment. “I never thought I would deal with bicycles on the professional level,” says Valeriu. “I just liked riding them when I was little. And, as a kid, I always liked to see what’s inside.”

After the Army I had to choose what direction to take, says Valeriu. I decided to go further with my education and studied automobiles. While studying in Chisinau, fate brought me together with a bike service center. This is when I began to study the subtleties of bike mechanics.

Now he works with Center Rural21, the regional NGO promoting democracy, healthy life style and sustainable development. The Pedals for Progress project is running in Moldova for the third time. The previous two shipments made essential improvements to the public transport infrastructure. It is readily visible when coming to the town.

“I could instantly see that Stefan Voda is now much better equipped with bikes than ever before,” says Mark Skelton, the Peace Corps Volunteer in Moldova who was the first to contact Pedals for Progress in 2002, arranging for the first shipment of bikes from the USA. Mark visited Stefan Voda during the second week of August 2005. It had been two years since he finished his duty in Moldova with Peace Corps.

“I am impressed how Valeriu has organized his workplace,” says Mark. “It is neat and well structured, and it seems he improves it every second,” says Mark after a half-day visit to the bike store.

“The best gratitude for me would be the bike I fit to never come back for repair,” says Valeriu. “I will just welcome them at least once a year for maintenance work.”

The Pedals for Progress project proved to be sustainable and a long-lasting relationship, and with Valeriu Soloviov responsible for the fitting process, we will fill Moldova up with reliable, environment-friendly means of transport — bicycles, said Center Rural21 director, Vitalie Rusanovschi.

by Darren Enterline, Peace Corps Volunteer
Fall 2009 InGear

Few people outside of Europe have ever heard of the Republic of Moldova. What those few usually do know is that the former Soviet Republic has the dubious distinction of consistently being the poorest nation in Europe. While many of the former Soviet-controlled states have thrived as independent democracies, Moldova has never been able to progress out of the political chaos of the early 1990s and the economic crises that followed. In 2008 the United Nations Human Development Report ranked Moldova 113th out of 179 nations, between Mongolia and Vietnam.

The failure of the Moldovan government to transition from a communist Soviet Republic to an independent capitalist democracy means that much of the population currently lives in poverty. While the capital, Chisinau, and larger cities have recently shown signs of economic recovery, the countryside still suffers greatly. The rural village where Pedals for Progress’s partner organization is located is no exception. Pelinia, never a wealthy village, once supported industries such as brick manufacturing and food canning until the collapse of the Soviet Union. The ensuing privatization of state industries brought an end to those enterprises that couldn’t survive the new market economy. Today, most villagers in Pelinia support themselves by farming the small plots of land given to them after the collective Soviet farms were privatized in 1996. Many depend solely on these plots, approximately 4 to 10 acres, for both their food and income. Oftentimes, these plots are several kilometers outside the village forcing villagers to use valuable time travelling to and from their land. To make matters worse, the roads used to reach the plots are unpaved and deeply rutted, making it slow going for the ancient cars and horse carts that use them.

Because so many people are involved in small-scale, low-income farming, the local government is chronically underfunded and unable to provide even the most basic services. Few houses have running water, making it necessary for many to walk to public wells to retrieve their water. Gas is also only available to a few households and is too expensive for many to use. Those that can’t afford to buy wood or coal must travel outside the village to collect their own wood in order to heat their homes during the winter. Although Pelinia is a large village of over 8000 inhabitants, it is too small to offer public transportation. Villagers must provide their own means to travel to stores, markets and schools on roads that are not much better than the ones outside of the village. Basically, the villagers of Pelinia endure the same difficulties that impoverished people all over the world endure.

While these hardships are debilitating, they are not impossible to overcome and Pedals for Progress offers one of the best ways to assist the villagers of Pelinia. Consult-Nord, a local Moldovan NGO established to promote local economic development in Pelinia, saw the potential results that Pedals for Progress’s bicycles could provide and requested to become a partner. Consult-Nord started selling bicycles this winter after receiving a shipment in late December of last year. The good quality, affordable bicycles now available at a shop set up by Consult-Nord offer numerous opportunities to villagers that otherwise would be inaccessible to them. With a bicycle, farmers can efficiently travel to their fields and more easily transport their crops and tools. Villagers can collect water and firewood with less effort. Students can arrive at school with more energy and villagers can independently travel throughout the village. A great example of how bicycles can help the villagers of Pelinia comes from Constant Surcanu. He is a 53-year-old farmer who regularly travels outside the village to work on his land. He bought a bicycle so he can reach his fields with more time to spare and so that he can also visit his relatives living throughout the village. He told us that he especially appreciates his bicycle’s wide, sturdy tires that can handle the demanding village roads. Another satisfied customer is Oleg Cerban. He is a 13-year-old student at the local middle school who bought a mountain bike so he could use it to get to school, to go on errands around the village for his family, and, of course, to visit his friends. These two examples show a few ways how bicycles can help the people of Pelinia. Simply put, bicycles in Pelinia provide what they provide to people all over the developing world, a simple means to independently better their lives.