Category Archives: bicycles

bicycles, Vietnam

Pedals for Progress Now in Vietnam

IMG_0070splash

Most recently, P4P’s readers have been kept abreast of our endeavors in locations such as Albania, Moldova, Uganda, and Ghana. We are now extremely pleased to announce that a new partner has joined P4P. Located in southwestern Vietnam, the Vinh Long Union of Friendship Organizations (VLUFO) collaborates with us to provide bicycles to the children in the Mekong Delta River region. An active participant funder of VLUFO, the Dariu Foundation (TDF) of Switzerland, has supplied the grant that is funding these initial shipments.

At the moment, there are three branches of the VLUFO. The first two, Vung Liem and Tra On, belong to the Vinh Long province. The third site, Tan Phu, belongs to the Dong Nai province. The bikes are to be distributed to school children in these regions on a scholarship basis and will be based, in part, on the distance from their homes to the school. Fifty percent of the bikes granted are earmarked for female and secondary school students.

IMG_0129

While elementary school tuition in the region is free and the small amount charged for attending junior high is small, it is the cost of textbooks, notebooks, pens, and uniforms that is usually high. If the students cannot acquire these basic requirements, they can’t attend school. A majority of families are affected by financial inconsistency during the school season because they earn their meager living from farming. The threat of flooding, exacerbated by climate change, and a high rate of emigration from the region affect families’ ability to earn a living and maintain strong communities. The children in this region are at the greatest risk of dropping out of school. The VLUFO hopes to reduce the financial burdens associated with educating the children of these families and offer the parents greater ease of access to economic opportunities in towns and cities. Before partnering with P4P, the VLUFO purchased the bicycles that they distribute. This has proven to be an expensive and, hence, short-lived option. The bicycles provided by P4P are the key to preventing a financial crisis for the Organizations while ensuring that they provide reliable transportation to families in need. The desired result is that the children stay in school and the parents spend more time on job and income generation.

The first shipment of 570 bikes is scheduled for the May 21st 2011 loading that will be bound for Vientnam. The Vinh Long Union of Friendship Organizations (VLUFO) plans to start distribution of P4P bikes in July. Though this will be the farthest location we ship to, Vietnam by far will be the cheapest place P4P has ever shipped bicycles.

 
  COUNTRY FACTS: VIETNAM

  POPULATION: 81 MILLION

  GDP PER CAPITA: $2,300 per year  

  LITERACY RATE: 94%

bicycles, Ghana

A Bike Shop in Ghana

Summer 2011 InGear
2011summerGhanaBikeShop
This bike shop, located in Koforidua, Ghana, supplies employment for two mechanics and services this community with bike sales and repair facilities. It is one of the many small bike shops supplied by our Ghanaian partner WEBikes. WEBikes distributes P4P bikes to many small entrepreneurs throughout the southern and eastern parts of Ghana. WEBikes has imported 4,800 bikes and 120 sewing machines since 2006. P4P is planning our next shipment to WEBikes in June of 2011.

Albania, bicycles

Albanian Program Is a Success

by Nina Këruti
Summer 2011 InGear

IMG_8465

This spring we are beginning shipments with PASS/Albania #2. We are so pleased for the success of the program in Tirana. PASS received one container of bikes from Pedals for Progress in July 2010. PASS had two goals for the bikes:

  • Creation of job opportunities for Roma Families through bike service.
  • Establishment of the first public bike service in Tirana.

The first container held 463 used bikes, 242 bundled bicycle parts, and 30 used sewing machines. Since the container arrived in Tirana last July, PASS has achieved the following:

  • 150 bikes were sold to the public at modest cost for operational income.
  • 100 bikes were donated to Roma Children schools for social activities developed under the project.
  • Public Bike Service has adopted 70 bicycles for general public use. The old Amsterdam Yellow Bike Project model was always effective when someone was responsible for maintenance.
  • 50 bicycles are frequently used for bike tours.
  • There are 30 bicycles that are designated for bike messengers.

In Tirana, PASS opened four First Bike Services, which translates into the creation of 8 jobs with a range of 15–20 bikes per station. Another part of the project was the creation of bike services, which results in the employment of 4 youths working to maintain the bikes.

What is positive and what we have achieved through the use of bikes is creating a community and a bicycle movement in Tirana. Improvements have been done in the infrastructure and many activities are organized in raising awareness for the use of bikes.

 
  COUNTRY FACTS: ALBANIA

  POPULATION: 3.1 MILLION

  GDP PER CAPITA: $4,400 per year  

  LITERACY RATE: 87%

bicycles, Vietnam

Pedals for Progress and the Dariu Foundation in Vietnam

Pedals for Progress and the Dariu Foundation (based in Switzerland) are please to announce that we have received importation permits from the Government of Vietnam.  P4P is now planning on sending our first shipment of bicycles to Ho Chi Minh City by late April, 2011.
The Dariu Foundation will start distribution first in southwestern Vietnam in the Vinh Long Province and Dong Nai Province with an emphasis on getting bikes to poor rural children so that they have the ability to attend school.

bicycles

Documentary to Feature Pedals for Progress

We’re excited to announce that Pedals for Progress will be highlighted in a feature-length documentary film directed by Greg Sucharew. The Bicycle City follows the lives of several Nicaraguan families who have received P4P bikes to tell the story of a city that is working to raise itself up from the poverty of its stagnant colonial past and the scarring of a ruinous civil war. In doing so, the film also describes the relationship between P4P and EcoBici, our longstanding partner in Rivas.

This is particularly meaningful to us because we’ve been reflecting lately on the 20 years P4P has been in operation. We’ve had a lot of successes, and failures, along the way as we’ve attempted to make this thing work. Rivas has been one of our greatest successes. In 1991, while Dave Schweidenback, P4P’s founder and current President, was figuring out how to get bikes from here to there in a sustainable way, it was Wilfredo Santana from EcoBici who came up with the revolving fund idea. EcoBici was the recipient of our first full container of bikes, and since then has accounted for 14% of all the bikes we’ve shipped. Although still poor by American standards, incomes in Rivas have risen across the board and the quality of life has improved dramatically.

It’s a success because by concentrating a growing number of bikes in this one city and providing a constant supply of parts over two decades P4P has been able to make a substantial impact there. We helped create a bicycle society, with a relatively sophisticated bicycle infrastructure. In 1991 the city boasted one bike shop, housed in a shed at a neighborhood baseball diamond; today there are over forty privately owned bike repair shops and EcoBici has a demand of over 2,200 bikes per year.

This is why we’re so excited about Greg’s documentary. Rivas is the success story, and we’re ecstatic that he’s chosen to share it with the world. The Bicycle City is still in its post-production phase, and he tells us there is a lot of editing and other work yet to be done, but Greg has given us this trailer so we could get a glimpse of it. We really like it and thought we would share it with you as well. Enjoy!

You may also remember the fantastic short film we commissioned from Greg, Cycle Recycle: Economic Development in Sierra Leone (if not, view it here!), that followed a container of bicycles as they were collected, loaded, shipped, and distributed in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Cycle Recycle was selected to be screened at New York’s 2009 Bicycle Film Festival and again at the 2010 Peace on Earth Film Festival in Chicago.

bicycles, Collectors

Connecticut Checks In

by Jackie Johnson
Spring 2011 InGear

Jackie Johnson with collection crew
Jackie Johnson with collection crew

I was prompted to call Pedals for Progress in September of 2002 after I read a small article in Hope Magazine (long since out of business). The article told the story of Dave Schweidenback launching Pedals for Progress following his experience in the Peace Corps and referenced the 57,000 bicycles that had, at that point, been shipped to partners in sixteen countries. This was a year after the 9/11 attacks and our nation was on the verge of war. I felt a burning need to do something positive and meaningful, ideally involving my husband and two children (who were then 10 and 12 years old). The article so inspired me that I immediately called Pedals for Progress and said I wanted to organize a bike collection in northwestern Connecticut, where I live. Even though Pedals had never held a collection so far from their base in High Bridge, New Jersey, their response was positive.

Because the fall collection season was already underway, I was encouraged to organize my collection the following spring. But I felt I had to act immediately. I ultimately spoke to Dave and explained why I couldn’t wait until spring. He was reluctantly convinced and our first Pedals for Progress collection was held at Holcomb Farm, an arts and environmental center, in Granby, CT, on December 7, 2002. An enthusiastic group of volunteers collected and processed a very chilly 42 bikes that day. They are still the core group of volunteers who have shown up every year since.

May of 2011 (yes, we’ve since switched to spring) will mark our 10th annual collection and will bring our count to over 1500 bikes collected. It would never have been possible without our amazing bike-processing guru/crew leader Tony King, Bruce and Bobbi Sullivan, who always remember to bring everything I forget, and the King and Johnson families.

Over the years, we’ve added many new regular volunteers—the Mayock Family, the Desiderato/Raggio Family and groups of students interested in community service. Sometimes people just happen to see what we’re doing and stay on to help. The greatest joy is that a bike collection truly is an inclusive community event. Anyone at any age can take part, and donors and volunteers alike share in the joy of knowing they’re making a difference in the lives of others. And often the stories donors tell us about the “lives” of the donated bikes are amazing!

Frequently these days, when I’m in the Center (a New England term for downtown) of our small town, someone stops me to ask when the next bike collection is. I feel so fortunate to have noticed that article back in 2002. While we’re a few hours away from High Bridge by car and much farther still from many of the places our donated bicycles have gone, Granby, Connecticut, is blessed to have a thriving Pedals for Progress community.

bicycles, Peace Corps

A Recipe for Collecting Bikes in Northern Vermont

by Joanne Heidkamp
Spring 2011 InGear

The relationship between the Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (GMRPCV) and Pedals for Progress began in the summer of 1999, when David Schweidenback approached us for a donation to P4P. We donated $100 and also decided to hold Vermont’s first P4P bicycle collection. That first year we collected 88 bikes and drove them down to New Jersey in a rented U-Haul.

Green Mountain RPCVs of Vermont
Green Mountain RPCVs of Vermont

Twelve years later, the GMRPCV is still holding annual collections for P4P and, although the number of bikes varies considerably from year to year, our average collection yields 200 bikes and about $1900 for shipping, as well as many sewing machines. In the last three years we’ve added sewing machines to our outreach, and have collected many of those as well.

Here are some of the key elements that help ensure our continuing success: One huge factor is the support of the local FedEx station, which has provided free shipping from Vermont to New Jersey since 2002. The day before our collection, FedEx drops off a semi truck with four empty containers. When the collection is over, FedEx delivers the containers to New Jersey on a space-available basis. The bikes will arrive at the P4P warehouse anywhere from two weeks to two months after they’ve been collected.

Although the GMRPCV has been the main organizer of the collection each year, a number of local groups have come on board to help promote it, and also help process bikes during the four-hour event. Local Motion, a local bike–pedestrian group, has been steadfast in its support. Several regional solid waste districts have also promoted the collections on their websites and through their newsletters. And we’ve had assistance from teen organizations at high schools and congregations, and from a few local Rotary clubs.

Since the original collection, all of our outreach and announcements for the event have stressed the need for a cash donation, which is critical for shipping, along with each bike or sewing machine. Posters at the collection reinforce the idea that a donated bike is useless unless we can raise enough money to get it to our partners in the developing world, and we always remind people that if they don’t have a bike or sewing machine to donate, donating money for shipping is also a good way to get involved.

We have learned that coverage in the local newspapers is essential to getting lots of bikes donated. For a few weeks before each collection, the group sends out lots of press releases, emails, and posts on Facebook. The area’s largest newspaper, the Burlington Free Press, usually runs a photo and caption about the bike collection during the week before the event; and a number of “hometown” papers will run an article if we focus the story on a volunteer who lives in the community. We also mail a postcard to everyone who donated a bike during the collections of the previous two years. Contacting people via various email lists has also become more important with each passing year.

The group gets a big boost every year from a “one man collection” organized by Gene Bianco, who runs an independent chimney cleaning and repair business in Randolph, Vermont, about an hour from Burlington. Bianco heard about the event in 2004, and started to collect bikes and donations in his community. That first year, he arrived with 31 bikes and $310. His efforts have expanded — in 2009 his truck and trailer were loaded with 75 bikes.

bicycles, Moldova, Peace Corps, Sewing Partners

A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed

by Constantin Bandiu
Fall 2010 InGear

Pelinia is one of the largest villages in northern Moldova, with a population of over eight thousand. The main occupation for villagers is farming, which keeps most residents busy all year round. Consult-Nord was founded in 2005, with the agreement of Pelinia’s citizens, to be a voluntary, independent, self-administrated, non-political organization to undertake projects for the benefit of the population of the Pelinia region as a whole.

2010fallMoldovaTwoMenUnloadingOur association’s aims are to organize area youth and improve their socio-economic condition, to develop close relations with local, national, and international NGO partners, and to establish a closer partnership with the local public administration for more efficient community problem solving. We’ve also founded the Alliance of Community Centers of Access to Information and Training (ACCAIT), currently comprising over 100 centers across Moldova.  We are able to maintain our activities through nominal fees for our services and by fundraising from external resources.

By 2006 we were able to implement the “Local Economical Development” project. Its major aim is to eradicate local poverty and unemployment by growing Pelinia’s economic sector and developing its infrastructure by organizing the resources of the community and its citizens. In 2008, due to a partnership with Pedals for Progress, the project was able to bring a container of bicycles from the United States. The aim of this initiative was to provide the bicycles at low cost to help Pelinians solve problems such as traveling around and outside the village efficiently, carrying heavy loads to and from their fields, etc.

One of our most exciting projects has been our modern Sewing Workshop. Besides the bicycles, Pedals for Progress sent us 15 sewing machines. Last summer, with the proceeds of selling some of the bicycles and with the help of the Peace Corps in Moldova, we implemented the Sewing Workshop in the village. We prepared a room with five of the sewing machines, one industrial sewing machine, and the necessary furniture. Girls from the village were taught to perform certain sewing operations such as design and making up prototypes because these are most important in dressmaking. They studied the structure of fabrics, how to take measurements, and how to use the machines. Many of the graduates bought the machines at which they learned and now work at sewing garments for themselves, their families, and others.

Today’s economic crisis has affected us in Moldova, too. Nevertheless, we try to overcome this difficulty using patience and imagination. We don’t wait to act, we work everyday to find a way out. For instance, we have lowered the price of our bicycles to be even more affordable for those whose incomes have been reduced and need even more assistance. We’ve worked to place information and even photos on our web page — in this way we’ve expanded the assistance we are able to provide to other parts of Moldova and even into Romania.2010fallMoldovaCrewUnloading

At the end of 2009, with the money we got from selling our original shipment, we had funds enough to pay for the transportation of a new container from Pedals for Progress. We have just begun to make the bicycles available to the public, but I have promised to award two prizes for the best pupils of the year 2009–10 — one pupil from the primary school and the second from the gymnasium (note: in Moldova, the primary school serves students ages 6–10, while the gymnasium serves students ages 10–15). And, of course, we are going to reward the most active volunteers in our various programs.

We are thankful to Pedals for Progress and the American people for providing us the chance to solve some of our everyday problems, like helping us move more quickly through the village and its neighborhood and helping us carry heavy loads more easily.  Also, I can’t help mentioning the great help given by Peace Corps Volunteer Darren Enterline. He supported us greatly in implementing the Bikes for Everybody project and in opening the Sewing Workshop.  Thank you all ever so much for your kindness and generosity.  I wish you to be healthy and continue doing such generous charity for those who really need it so much nowadays.

bicycles, Ghana, Sewing Partners

P4P in Ghana: WEBike, OKURASE, Sew for Sisterhood

WEBike

For Pedals for Progress to get our bicycles to the smallest towns at the end of the road where the need for them is greatest, we need to find a local partner organization that has robust distribution potential. While most of our overseas partners are nonprofits, in a few instances we have chosen to work with effective for-profit organizations. Wright Enterprises is one of these.

Wright Enterprises is a for-profit company that imports consumer goods into Ghana. They have organized and maintain a supply chain across a very large swath of the countryside in order to bring all manner of goods to the small merchants who serve the needs of the local populations. Over the years, the merchants they supplied consistently requested bicycles for their customers, but importing bikes never proved cost-effective. After purchasing them abroad, then adding tariff and transportation costs, the final retail price of their bikes was too high for their end customers. The numbers simply didn’t make sense for them.

Then, in 2006, they contacted Pedals for Progress for assistance. Traditionally, we work with non-profit organizations. For a number of reasons, for-profit partners are usually unsuitable, but working with Wright Enterprises offered us a unique opportunity. As a commercial entity, they can get containers in-country easier because they bypass much of the red tape that keeps many non-profit groups from being effective. Most importantly, though, by partnering with them we gain access to many, many small markets we would otherwise not be able to reach.

For their part, Wright Enterprises established WEBike to distribute P4P bikes at little to no profit for themselves. As good businessmen, they realize that by supplying affordable transportation to their customers, those customers are able to earn more money and buy more of their merchandise. They have proven to be an extremely effective partner. While their main facilities are in Ghana’s capital, Accra, their supply networks extend through Accra’s populous suburbs, up the Volta River, and all along the Cape Coast.

ghanaOkraselinks

Project OKURASE

The purpose of Project OKURASE (Opportunity, Knowledge, Understanding, Renewed Health, Arts-Based, Skills Training and Education) is to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in Ghana by helping vulnerable and orphaned children who are impacted by HIV/AIDS in their family and their village. Click here to read the article on OKURASE in the Fall 2009 INGEAR.

Click here for the Project OKURASE facebook page.

Sew for Sisterhood

P4P is collaborating with the GO Fund to help support Sew for Sisterhood in Ghana. This is a true combined effort: the GO Fund supplies the trainers in the field while we supply the hardware. We are already planning our next joint venture in Kenya.

ghanaSewingClassIMG_1880 ghanaSewingMachinesOnHeadsIMG_1946
bicycles, Nicaragua

Letter from Happy Customers in Rivas, Nicaragua

 

Dear P4P,

I just wanted to take a moment and share with you our experience and say thanks for Pedals 4 Progress. For much of 2007 and nearly all of 2008 my wife and I served as volunteer missionaries (in other words we paid all of our own expenses) in the vicinity of Rivas, Nicaragua. We were on a tight budget and very quickly we found ourselves in need of some bicycles. As you are probably aware, the only options in Nicaragua are either super expensive mediocre brands sold in Managua, or horrible quality Chinese manufactured bikes that are sold for anywhere between $50 to $100. It wasn’t long before EcoBicicletas became our new best friend. Both ourselves, our fellow volunteer missionaries, and our local Nicaraguan friends in the congregation relied heavily on bicycles for transportation. Pedaling a cheap problematic bike in the hot Nicaraguan sun is no fun. EcoBicicletas allowed us to find a number of quality bikes for around $50. The cool part was also how it helped the local Nicaraguans. Most of them really weren’t familiar with bike brands and basic bike repair so I began buying one or two a month, transporting them to our small town, fixing them up (typically minor repairs) and either selling them for cost or donating them to our Nicaraguan friends. In the process I was able to educate them a little bit about which ones to look for (Trek, Giant, Fuji, etc.) and also share some basic repair knowledge. In 2008 my wife and got pregnant and we have since returned to the states, but I always appreciated the positive impact that I personally felt from Pedals 4 Progress and EcoBicicletas.

Thanks again!

Justin and Beth