Category Archives: bicycles

bicycles, Colombia

Regaining a Feeling of Freedom

2004 InGear

For six years, Reinel Oviedo sat in a Colombian prison at the foot of the Andean Mountains, about 90 miles west of the capital of Bogota, losing hope and gaining weight. Thanks to Pedals for Progress, however, Reinel is increasingly free to spend part of his day on two wheels, away from the jail’s intensely close confines, earning money for the day when he will regain his liberty.

2004columbiaBikesOnBridgeReinel, and others like him at Colombia’s Picalea Prison, have earned work-release privileges to work for Horizons of Freedom Foundation (FHL) ‘Comp&Mail Messenger Service’. With bicycles provided by Pedals for Progress, inmates travel from the penitentiary to the service’s headquarters and from there to the service’s clients in the city of Ibagué. Reinel, who had nearly forgotten the freedom afforded by a bicycle, reports he has regained his sense of autonomy and self worth while earning an income. In his own words, “The benefits obtained have been many. Riding a bike has given me a feeling of liberty. My job has become almost a recreational activity. My physical condition has improved; the poundage put on by penitentiary food has been eliminated. Today I possess an athlete’s physique. I’ve had to abandon my earlier cigarette vice, and physical activity during the day allows me to sleep all night, without the nightmares of before. Also, I have benefited financially, cutting my transport costs”.

Pedals for Progress’s involvement with FHL goes back to the summer of 2002, when FHL’s founder and director, David Toro, approached P4P, requesting a container of bicycles. Toro, a former Picalea inmate, is a nationally-recognized ‘social entrepreneur’ and winner of a prestigious Ashoka Fellowship for social entrepreneurship. Since 2002, FHL has received two subsidized P4P shipments totalling about 900 bicycles. Besides using bicycles in its successful messenger business, FHL has launched a region-wide environmental awareness campaign centered on mass public bicycle rides, and has bartered surplus bicycles in return for training, accounting, and other services from sympathetic community development organizations.

Although FHL’s program’s have been successful, FHL is struggling financially, and is unable to bear the full costs of a third shipment. A principal reason FHL cannot pay the full cost of the third shipment of bicycles is Colombia’s Customs Regulations, which are onerous and costly. As David Toro reported following the arrival in port of P4P’s second container, “I tell you it is not easy. We have obtained the import license and duty-free exemption consent from the Ministry of Commerce and Trade, but with the Finance Ministry, it’s been much more difficult. A Finance Ministry delegation from Bogota visited us at our offices in Ibagué; they requested financial statements, income tax returns, loan documents, reports, etc. It went well, but all these things have delayed their giving us a decision on the tax exemption”. Furthermore, Colombian authorities require that—in exchange for partial tax exemption—FHL is prohibited from selling any bikes received, thus eliminating sales as a source of funds to pay for a subsequent shipment.

Finally, entering the country expeditiously requires a detailed inventory approved by Colombia’s Ministry of Finance prior to shipment. This requirement is easy for an importer of consecutively-numbered and uniform new bicycles originating with a manufacturer, but a practical impossibility for Pedals for Progress, owing to the variability of used bicycles and limited storage capacities. As a result of these import regulations, the shipment is delayed and additional costs are incurred for port storage, fines, additional container rental charges, and extra paperwork and staff time.

To overcome this constraint, and continue to support this exceptional program, Pedals for Progress is working with the State of Kansas’ Ellsworth Correctional Institute to recondition, inventory, and ship bicycles donated in Kansas to the Colombian program. Pedals for Progress is excited about promoting a prison-to-prison linkage, and about the potential psychological, vocational education, and income-generation benefits to traditionally marginalized population on both sides of the equator.

By enlisting the help of Ellsworth Correctional Institute, Pedals for Progress has been able to overcome Colombia’s onerous import regulations. Unlike Pedals for Progress, with its limited storage capacity and volunteer staff, Ellsworth has plenty of volunteers and space to inventory the bikes, prepare the detailed listing required by Colombian Custom Regulations, and can store the bicycles until Colombian Customs approves the inventory for shipment.

It is these types of creative relationships that have made Pedals for Progress successful.

bicycles, Ghana

Pedals for Progress in Ghana

2004 InGear

Since January 1st, 2000, Pedals for Progress has shipped 4,903 bicycles to five separate partners in Ghana. Although there are many bicycles in Ghana already (and new bicycles are generally available), the cost of a new or locally resold bicycle is well beyond the economic reach of many Ghanaians. Thus, the ability to import used bicycles from us allows our partners to offer used bicycles to the poorest segments of the population with prices more closely aligned with their economic circumstances.

Additionally, the used bikes we have shipped from the United States have been, more often than not, of a much higher quality and lower priced than the new bikes available in that country.

In order to sustain payment of shipping costs for thousands of bikes per year, Pedals For Progress conceived and implemented (and continually administers) a ‘revolving funds’ process. The basic idea is that Pedals for Progress pre-pays the shipping costs of a new program’s first container, using funds retained and budgeted for this purpose and to grow the enterprise. Thus, once an overseas group is qualified as a viable partner, P4P commits to capitalizing the startup of their operation by this one-time only offsetting of their biggest expense — shipping costs.

Subsequently, through the sale of bikes at low cost, our partner organizations generate the capability to pay their domestic operational expenses and still ‘revolve’ money to Pedals For Progress to pay shipping costs for the next container load of bikes. To date, by employing this method, Pedals For Progress has been able to ship 80,000 bicycles to 28 countries worldwide.

One important benchmark included in the maintenance of the revolving funds process is “cost per unit delivered”. (How much does it cost for one bike to arrive at the destination distribution point?) Shipping costs vary due to a myriad of circumstances over which we have very little control. But, ship we must (!), given our fixed and otherwise constrained warehousing space. During the collection season (and at current collection volume levels), we must ship at least one container of bicycles per week. While it is occasionally possible to get the shipment cost for an NGO donated by a foundation or corporation, it has proven to be easier for us to use commercial carriers to deliver our bikes and to simply find a way to cover those costs when they occasionally exceed ‘revolving funds’ revenue.

Our Central American programs function exceedingly well in that the ‘landed cost per bike’ (same metric noted above) is between $8 and $10 depending on the country. Shipping bikes to Ghana costs approximately $15 to $18 per bike delivered. To Central America we are able to ship in a larger 45 ft. container holding 500 bikes. To Africa we are forced to ship bikes in a 40 ft. container holding 400. For this obvious reason then, our “per unit cost” to Africa is bound to be considerably higher because (due to maritime market conditions and ‘land locked’ receiving destinations) we pay a larger amount of money for a smaller number of bikes. At $10 ‘per bike landed cost’, the revolving funds process functions tremendously well. At $15 ‘per bike landed cost’ the revolving fund system breaks down. Pedals for Progress has been shipping to Ghana for approximately five years. Yet, it is now obvious that a future of successful program operation in West Africa, due to the cost picture there, will require a $1,000 or $2,000 subsidy for each container shipped. That would allow our partners in Africa to be paying the landed cost of the programs in Central America.

bicycles

High Productivity and Professional Quality from Ellsworth, Kansas

by Sam Cline, Warden
Summer 2004 InGear

The Ellsworth Correctional Facility (ECF), located in north central Kansas, houses 830 medium-security inmates. Dedicated in 1988, the ECF is located on 60 acres of ground on the northwest corner of the City of Ellsworth, Kansas.

2004summerEllsworthIn 2001, a bicycle program was created at ECF, where donated bicycles are refurbished by inmates for distribution to less fortunate children. The distribution of these bicycles is carried out by civic organizations during the holidays. Any bicycles that don’t go to the children are designated for shipment to developing countries. And that’s where Pedals for Progress steps in.

The most recent shipment of ECF bicycles was in March 2004, when 446 bikes were sent to Kumasi, Ghana. This was helped along by a generous charitable donation from the Post Rock JayCees chapter, which is made up of inmates at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility. By conducting numerous fundraising events within the prison they raised enough money to subsidize the shipment.

The ECF bicycle program employs 15 inmates and provides valuable work for these men throughout the day. Their pay is provided by the State of Kansas and is not part of donated funds for the bicycle repairs. Additional supporting funds for this project come from the Ellsworth Kiwanis Club, which serves as the program’s sponsoring civic group. Through the Kiwanis, necessary funds for the purchase of supplies, parts, tubes and tires are provided.

Bikes leaving ECF are among the best bikes Pedals for Progress collects. After all, these bikes receive special treatment far beyond the usual P4P bike processing. To begin with, the shop area for the ECF Bicycle program is as well organized as a professional bike shop. And the work done to each bike is very thorough. They are cleaned, lubed and tuned up, and even receive some disassembly in order to grease bearings and thoroughly clean the drive components. Worn tubes and tires are replaced with new ones. And when needed, the ECF inmates even go so far as to repaint the bikes. The bikes are made new again.

The inmates in this program are inspired by doing something that benefits others, so their productivity is very high. They also learn new skills and find the work heartening, especially when they receive news about how the bikes are being used wherever they’ve been shipped.

Both ECF and Pedals for Progress are very proud of the relationship that has been created through bicycles and good will. As with all P4P programs, ECF helps to prevent a valuable resource—used bikes—from becoming part the vast waste stream of America and gets these bikes to very deserving people across the world. And as an added benefit, the ECF/P4P program provides meaningful work for men seeking to improve their own lives while incarcerated.

bicycles, Nicaragua

EcoBici Program Anticipates 2000 Bikes per Year

Summer 2004 InGear

As reported in the last issue of InGear, the initial shipment of bicycles to EcoBici in Rivas, Nicaragua, was funded by the Claerbout Family in memory of their late son, Jos, an avid cyclist with a passionate interest in Latin American development and social justice. Ecobici’s inaugural shipment arrived on April 29, 2003, and became the foundation of what is now a thriving new project.

2004summerEcobicicletasIn 1998, project managers Wilfredo Santana Rodriquez and his wife Carla Bello left the Rivas program, Assocation for Community Development (ADC), and went north to Jinotepe to start the spin-off EcoTec. Having left a well-established EcoTec in the capable hands of Martin Melendes, Wilfredo and Carla returned home to Rivas to rebuild ADC, which languished in their absence. Essentially beginning anew in Rivas, they’ve named their project EcoBici.

EcoBici serves low-income residents in the many small towns of the southern Pacific coast region of Nicaragua, where the terrain is flat and rolling, ideal for cyclists. As in the case of EcoTec, EcoBici’s “profits” from sales are financing small-scale rural community development projects selected and implemented by representative community organizations. These include the construction of health clinics, schools, community potable water systems, and the planting of community wood lots. EcoBici has also donated P4P-supplied sewing machines and baseball equipment to the José María Moncada School, the Susana López Carazo School, and the Nandaime Women’s Center.

After receiving the first container of bicycles, so generously donated by the Claerbout Family, EcoBici has since imported four more containers, growth resulting directly from that initial shipment. The sale of those first bicycles provided crucial seed money for future shipments. And now a healthy revolving fund system is sustaining EcoBici.

The revolving fund system created by Pedals For Progress is key to enabling us to continue shipping containers to programs overseas. Combined with the customary hard work of Pedals For Progress bike collectors and project managers, EcoBici can now claim nearly 2,500 bicycles shipped. What’s more, over 2,000 bikes per year will arrive there for the foreseeable future.

A giant thanks to the Claerbout family for making this happen.

bicycles

An Out-Spokin’ Individual

Summer 2004 InGear

Frankie Hinds, the 31-year-old lead bike mechanic for the Pinelands Creative Workshop, was a late comer to the Pinelands bike project, but it would appear that he was destined for it from early childhood. Frankie has been a resident of the Pinelands, a low-income area in Barbados, since age 6. Inspired by a cycling uncle, Frankie took early to bicycles. From his uncle, Frankie got his first bike at age 11, a hand-me-down Raleigh, and rode it constantly.

2004summerBarbadosIn a short time, Frankie’s uncle taught him some basic bicycle repair skills, working on derailleurs and shifters. Noticing some precocious talent, his uncle challenged him to true his road bike wheels. “I told him he’s crazy,” said Frankie, but his uncle started at the beginning, teaching Frankie “how to spoke it”, constructing a wheel from scratch. In so doing, Frankie absorbed the underlying numeric logic of spoke interaction. After all, “it’s a question of numbers.”

Soon Frankie was truing wheels for friends in the Pinelands area. He recalls his early days, working with bikes that were so oxidized that when he trued a wheel using his thumb as a gauge, the rust on the rim wore down his thumbnail.

Pedals for Progress bikes, at least, don’t put his thumbnails to the test on a daily basis. However, they do often require some work. To satisfy local tastes, he modifies “drop bar” road bikes, substituting straight handlebars and new brake assemblies. Although the conditions under which Frankie labors are not always the best, he generally converts each bike in the space of 15 or 20 minutes. His small workspace is crowded with bikes, and lacks a truing stand and even a work stand with a clamp. To work on bikes Frankie must hang the bike by its seat on a strap attached to the ceiling. This makeshift stand is unsteady, but functional, permitting him to use both hands while making repairs.

Frankie did not come straight from the schoolyard to the bike shop, however. On leaving school, Frankie became interested in Rastafarianism and organic foods, selling natural fruit juices as a micro business. However, the competition for space in his mother’s kitchen limited his production and his ability to earn a living—a recipe for frustration. Even with a small loan from the Pinelands micro-credit program, the business simply could not grow.

In early 2001, with the growth of the Pinelands bike project, an opportunity came for him to work in the shop. Frankie began truing wheels on a part-time basis, but when the regular mechanic resigned to take a job outside the cycling profession, Frankie stepped up and took his place.

Not only does Frankie have a natural mechanical talent, he has found helping others fulfilling. There is “always a joy to it.” A neighbor or a customer brings in their bike in need of repair, Frankie works on the bike, and “when it leaves, you got it riding perfect.”

Frankie brings this philosophy to his own bike, converting an old Schwinn one-speed cruiser into a sturdy six-speed mountain bike, with a large basket to carry his tools to and from work.

The Pinelands project receives two 40-foot container shipments and approximately 850 bikes annually. Frankie is able to handle the bike assembly and reconditioning needs of the project with the part-time mechanic assistance of Clyne Alleyne. On an informal basis, customers and young people from the neighborhood hang around and clean bikes. (Pinelands once tried to start a training program, but the first student came one day, and failed to come back the next. Frankie laments that bike mechanics, in this throw-away society, is “a dying trade”.)

Although working with bikes and helping customers ride them is personally fulfilling and pays a modest salary, Frankie has other things that are important to him. He and his girlfriend have just built the shell of their new home and, once they install electricity, they plan to dedicate Sundays to cooking and selling soy-based food products, reflecting their personal values, their enjoyment of each other’s company, and—hopefully—to supplement their family income. A steady job at Pinelands allows Frankie to experiment and take risks.

Not that Frankie forsakes bikes after hours. For now, Pinelands prefers not to make repair services a big part of its income stream. Customers who have purchased bikes generally can bring them back for simple free repairs, paying for parts. Pinelands management feels it is just too complicated and distracting to get into the service business. This does not mean there is not a public need, however. Frankie, who for security reasons already takes his tools home with him every day, also takes customer bikes home from time to time to repair—giving new meaning to the old expression “taking his work home with him.”

Beginning in 1995, the bicycle project of Barbados’ Pinelands Creative Workshop has received more than 6,000 Pedals for Progress bicycles, distributing them throughout this Caribbean island of fewer than 300,000 people. Besides providing affordable transport for recreational, educational, and employment use, Pinelands manages multiple programs benefiting the Pinelands and greater Bridgetown communities, including micro-credit, Meals on Wheels, and youth development through the performing arts.

bicycles, Ghana

Pedals for Progress in Ghana

Spring 2004 InGear

Since January 1st, 2000, Pedals for Progress has shipped 4,903 bicycles to five separate partners in Ghana. Although there are many bicycles in Ghana already (and new bicycles are generally available), the cost of a new or locally resold bicycle is well beyond the economic reach of many Ghanaians. Thus, the ability to import used bicycles from us allows our partners to offer used bicycles to the poorest segments of the population with prices more closely aligned with their economic circumstances.

Additionally, the used bikes we have shipped from the United States have been, more often than not, of a much higher quality and lower priced than the new bikes available in that country.

In order to sustain payment of shipping costs for thousands of bikes per year, Pedals For Progress conceived and implemented (and continually administers) a ‘revolving funds’ process. The basic idea is that Pedals for Progress pre-pays the shipping costs of a new program’s first container, using funds retained and budgeted for this purpose and to grow the enterprise. Thus, once an overseas group is qualified as a viable partner, P4P commits to capitalizing the startup of their operation by this one-time-only offsetting of their biggest expense – shipping costs.

Subsequently, through the sale of bikes at low cost, our partner organizations generate the capability to pay their domestic operational expenses and still ‘revolve’ money to Pedals For Progress to pay shipping costs for the next container load of bikes. To date, by employing this method, Pedals For Progress has been able to ship 80,000 bicycles to 28 countries worldwide.

One important benchmark included in the maintenance of the revolving funds process is “cost per unit delivered”. (How much does it cost for one bike to arrive at the destination distribution point?) Shipping costs vary due to a myriad of circumstances over which we have very little control. But, ship we must (!), given our fixed and otherwise constrained warehousing space. During the collection season (and at current collection volume levels), we must ship at least one container of bicycles per week. While it is occasionally possible to get the shipment cost for an NGO donated by a foundation or corporation, it has proven to be easier for us to use commercial carriers to deliver our bikes and to simply find a way to cover those costs when they occasionally exceed ‘revolving funds’ revenue.

Our Central American programs function exceedingly well in that the ‘landed cost per bike’ (same metric noted above) is between $8 and $10 depending on the country. Shipping bikes to Ghana costs approximately $15 to $18 per bike delivered. To Central America we are able to ship in a larger 45-foot container holding 500 bikes. To Africa we are forced to ship bikes in a 40-foot container holding 400. For this obvious reason then, our “per unit cost” to Africa is bound to be considerably higher because (due to maritime market conditions and ‘land locked’ receiving destinations) we pay a larger amount of money for a smaller number of bikes. At $10 ‘per bike landed cost’, the revolving funds process functions tremendously well. At $15 ‘per bike landed cost’ the revolving fund system breaks down. Pedals for Progress has been shipping to Ghana for approximately five years. Yet, it is now obvious that a future of successful program operation in West Africa, due to the cost picture there, will require a $1,000 or $2,000 subsidy for each container shipped. That would allow our partners in Africa to be paying the landed cost of the programs in Central America.

Pedals for Progress currently has two active programs in Ghana: Nene Katey Ocansey I Learning and Technology Center (NekoTech) based in Ada and Tema, Ghana, promotes teacher and vocational education programs serving the rural poor. With the help of the PFP bikes, the center has been able to expand its HIV/AIDS prevention health campaign via HIV/AIDS Ambassadors – youth who are given bikes to be able to reach the most remote villages to bring awareness of the dangers of HIV/AIDS, distribute free condoms and to teach abstinence to the youth. This program would not have reached as many recipients without bikes. The War against AIDS was also strengthened through Bikethons – which have drawn youth interest when seminars failed. Additionally, a special program teaching young women to ride has increased the economic productivity of young girls.

The Edikanfo Progressive Foundation (EPF) based in Kumasi, Ghana, promotes community development, education, and health in the impoverished Northern Region of the country in cooperation with government institutions and international agencies such as World Vision.

bicycles, Ghana

A Cycle-Wheelchair in Ada, Ghana

Spring 2002 InGear

I had come searching for Akrofi Augustine while visiting the Volta River Estuary community of Ada, home to the Nene Ocansey I Technical Center (NEKOTECH), one of two Pedals for Progress partners in Ghana. Pedals for Progress has shipped four containers of bicycles and parts to NEKOTECH beginning in late 2000, and already there are more than 1,000 PfP-provided bicycles circulating in Ada district.

spring2002cycleWheelchairAkrofi (“first-born”) lives in Amlakpo, a small village of the Ada district. Amlakpo is four kilometers out of Kasseh, the commercially-active crossroads where traffic parts, continuing eastward across the Volta River towards neighboring Togo, or turning south a few miles down river to Ada proper. Akrofi’s family owned their modest home, and rented the other half of the simple concrete-block duplex to a Peace Corps volunteer. Through this contact we had heard of this energetic young man, who had established a reputation locally for exceptional initiative.

Akrofi, now 29, told me his story. He had suffered polio at age 2, crippling his legs and leaving them emaciated and useless. Through first grade, he lived with his grandmother, attending school nearby. Crawling to school and elsewhere, Akrofi developed exceptionally strong arm and chest muscles. However, after returning to live with his father, the one-mile distance to the new school eventually compelled him to drop out.

For many years, he stayed close to home, for a while feeling depressed and useless. On reaching his teens and hoping to make a financial contribution to the family, he began to work as a barber. For a while, he persevered, but waiting for people to come to his home to sit for a haircut was frustrating and didn’t generate much income.

His break came when the clinic in Batton, at the behest of his father who worked there, gave him a bicycle-wheelchair put together by a local workshop. The customized contraption, with the drive chain fixed high in front, permitted Akrofi to efficiently apply his brawny arms to moving around independently.

With the freedom provided, he was able to break out of home-bound isolation. Unable to make a living cutting hair at home, Akrofi set about to realize a long-held dream of learning to repair radios and televisions.

A childhood friend was a store owner and established electronics repairman in Kasseh. Akrofi, when not barbering, hung out there, and soon came to think that electronics repair was far more interesting than barbering. It was a career where his disability was not an impediment. When he barbered, it was difficult to cut people’s hair because he couldn’t readily circle around his customer like standing barbers do. With electronics repair, Akrofi could focus on his work at a table, relying on his hands alone.

In the months preceding our January 2002 visit, Akrofi apprenticed himself to the electronics repair shop. In exchange for the proprietor’s time and knowledge, Akrofi works for nothing, slowly acquiring the varied skills to run such a business. In spite of the five-kilometer distance, the young man is a regular sight on the road, outpacing pedestrians and greeting a growing number of acquaintances. Soon, he will be able to leave and begin his own business.

Akrofi is satisfied; he enjoys the challenges and variety of repair work, knows he will earn more money once he is on his own, and looks forward to becoming independent and his own boss. Once he has mastered the trade, he plans on moving near his father in Batton. And all because of a bicycle wheelchair.

bicycles, Eritrea

Eritrea Again!

Spring 2002 InGear

2008summerEritreaLetterNow that the recent border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia has ended and peace has returned to the Horn of Africa, P4P has resumed donations to the Cultural Assets Rehabilitation Program (CARP), an initiative of the Eritrean Ministry of the Environment.

Two P4P containers holding 834 bicycles, financed by the Department of Defense Humanitarian Shipping Program and originating in New Jersey and northern Virginia in late February, arrived in the Eritrean capital of Asmara in May 2002. These donations build on four shipments provided by P4P during 1995 and 1996, which put postal workers, teachers, students, health workers, and small entrepreneurs on bikes.

CARP’s overall goals are: protecting historical monuments and sites; conserving the environment; and supporting the development of the arts, music, and literature. With P4P assistance, CARP is now seeking to reduce air pollution in Asmara. As well as generating employment, a greater use of bicycles will reduce emissions that are harming the historical monuments.

The program is aided by the existence in Eritrea of a strong cycling culture, as bikes were introduced and widely used during the Italian occupation of the country in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Thus there is a strong demand for bikes in rebuilding the country after the recent border war, and Eritrea’s earlier, long war for independence from Ethiopia. P4P is pleased to provide timely help.

bicycles, Moldova, Peace Corps

Mobility in Moldova

2002 InGear

Following the disintegration of the USSR and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc economy, communities like Stefan Voda, in the former Soviet republic of Moldova, have seen incomes shrink, the cost of imported goods such as petroleum skyrocket, and their modest standards of living plummet. Personal mobility and productivity have suffered. As bus fares rose, the inhabitants of Stefan Voda could not afford to take public transport, the system collapsed, and a town once inter-connected via a bus system was left without transportation. Private cars are few. Moldovans are fond of bicycles, yet quality and price is a challenge for those on limited incomes. Nobody will sell a used bike, and new expensive imported bikes are the only ones available.

Local farmers on average walk 10–12 miles daily, to and from their fields. This takes two or more hours away from work. The average commute to work and school for teachers, students and others living outside the center of town is 30–45 minutes or more, exacerbated by the local tradition of returning home for lunch.

Peace Corps volunteer Marc Skelton, who works in a local non-governmental organization, Rural 21, coordinated with Stefan Voda. Marc teaches health to 6th and 7th graders, and facilitates HIV/AIDS seminars with local doctors and other medical professionals, to address the spread of this affliction resulting from the conversion of Moldova in general into a gateway for trafficking in women and drugs. Marc immediately saw that bicycles could contribute to better public health and the accomplishment of work and daily chores. Rural 21 agreed. The result is an initial request to P4P for 500 bicycles to establish a vocational educational program repairing and selling bicycles for local distribution.

P4P is presently seeking the $5,000 in funding necessary to finance an initial shipment and effectively capitalize a new project. If you would like to support Marc’s efforts, and those of Rural 21 and the people of Stefan Voda, send a check with the notation “Moldova” to Pedals for Progress, Box 312, High Bridge NJ 08829-0312.

bicycles, Dominican Republic

Haitian Immigrants in the Dominican Republic

Winter 2001 InGear
2001winterHaitiDominicanRepublicBiemboBiembo Olivé is a twenty-five-year-old Haitian immigrant who works as a day laborer on local rice plantations. He lives in the part of Boca de Mao called El Batey; the name comes from the time when it housed the Haitian workers who cut sugar cane in the state-owned plantations. Rice, bananas, yuccas and plantains have replaced sugar in this region of the Dominican Republic, but immigrants like Biembo still supply much of the labor.

As a day laborer harvesting rice, Biembo usually earns 100 pesos ($6 US) a day. Paying car fare out of that would cost him 20 pesos daily, and given that option before having the bike, he usually walked.

He came to the Dominican Republic from Cape Haitian, his birthplace, two years ago. He came “Buscando la vida” as the expression here goes, “Looking for a living”. What money he can save from his earnings, he sends to his family in Haiti, toward the construction of a better house there.

2001winterHaitiDominicanRepublicRosa

Rosa Pye is a twenty-two-year-old Haitian immigrant who works washing clothes by hand, and also as a field laborer on local rice or tobacco farms. Her husband is twenty-one, Haitian, and works as a day laborer as well.

“I use the bicycle to take meals to my husband in the fields and also for me to get to work”, she says. The trip to the rice fields takes from 30 minutes to an hour on foot. Riding the bike, she arrives in 10 to 20 minutes. Before owning the bike, on days when she didn’t walk to the fields, she paid 20 pesos for car fare. A day in the fields has recently been netting them 80 pesos daily.

Rosa comes from a family of eight children in a small town in northern Haiti near the Haitian–Dominican border. She has been traveling to and from the Dominican Republic to work for the past five years. She met her husband in the D.R. on one of her first trips when she came to work bundling tobacco and picking tomatoes. She says that life here is a little easier.