Category Archives: bicycles
Corporate Largess and the Cape-to-Cape Trek
By Dave Schweidenback
Fall 2020 Newsletter
Back in the 1990s Pedals for Progress had a relationship with Bell Sports, at the time the largest distributor of bikes and bike parts in the United States and Canada. Bell Sports donated millions of dollars of new bicycle parts, including the bicycle that David Loveland rode from South Cape, South Africa, to North Cape, Norway.
Take a moment and think of yourself as the executive running a massive parts distribution company. How do you know you sold every single part you could have sold? The answer is there must be one left over. If you sell every one of an individual part, how do you know you couldn’t have sold more? Therefore it behooves these distributors to have a small amount of excess to prove their efficiency. The problem is that the excess needs to disappear.
Before the Bell–P4P relationship, that excess product would be ground up and put in a landfill at great expense. By donating all of that product to Pedals for Progress, Bell got a tax deduction for the value of the product they gave us. The trick was that the product had to be destroyed.
In this case, destruction means permanent removal from their market. The Bell Sports corporate footprint was the United States and Canada. If the donated products were removed from the United States and Canada, they were theoretically “destroyed”.
Over an eight year period, Pedals for Progress received over $10 million of new parts from Bell Sports.
In 1993 I received an email from David Loveland. He was approaching his close of service as a Peace Corps volunteer serving in Malawi, East Africa. He had a dream of bicycling from South Cape, South Africa, to North Cape, Norway. He was going to fund the trip himself. He just needed a bike. On one hand, this is not what Pedals for Progress does, but on the other hand there was a man with a dream and maybe I could help. I contacted my contact at Bell Sports, Jim Keller, and told him about this young man who wanted to bicycle halfway across the world, south to north. After some mild negotiating, Bell Sports gave us a brand-new Trek bicycle and some accessories, which we got to Malawi. Dave did the rest.
I remember conspiring with his mother to try to convince him to stay safe in the routes he took.
I also remember the story of the danger of frogs on the road in Slovakia. These great big frogs sit out on the road and if you hit one you just slide off the road into the bushes.
I recently heard from David. He still has the bicycle. I had a Cape-to-Cape T-shirt in a frame at the office and I sent it to him. He wrote a great trip report for this newsletter.
cape to cape: 12,000 miles in 365 days on a bike
By David Loveland
Fall 2020 Newsletter
As I began reflecting on the completion, 25 years ago, of my bicycle journey from Cape Town, South Africa, to the North Cape of Norway, I felt the urge to reach out to those who helped me. The very first of those people was David Schweidenback, as he was the first person to not only help me but to believe that I could pull off this journey. I need to go back to 1992 to explain.
In July of that year, I arrived in Malawi as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Malawi is a small (less than 20 million people), landlocked, impoverished (perennially ranking in the bottom 5 in the world in terms of GDP) country in southeastern Africa. I was sent as a math teacher and was stationed in Namitambo, a remote village, with no running water or electricity, 5 miles from the nearest 2-lane, albeit dirt, road. In addition to teaching high school math, commerce, and world history to classes of 200+ students, I took on projects building teacher houses (one being my own) and installing wells to provide safe drinking water to the local villages.
In such a remote setting, transportation, as my Malawian friends would say, was a problem. While there was a market in my village on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, where I could buy fresh tomatoes, cabbage, onions, and leafy vegetables as well as choose which part I wanted of the cow or goat slaughtered in front of me, nearly all other supplies could be bought only in the city of Blantyre, nearly 25 miles away. The typical routine for getting from Namitambo to Blantyre consisted of walking the 5 miles of foot paths and dirt tracks to the main road to wait for a bus, van, or other vehicle. Always crowded with people, diaperless babies, chickens, and the occasional goat, the buses and vans would slowly bounce their way along the rough road, stopping for passengers until not a single inch of space remained. From the door of my house to the bus station in Blantyre was, on average, a 2-hour ordeal. And the return trip was far worse, as I would have to carry whatever I bought the 5 miles home from the bus stop.
Not surprisingly, I was overjoyed when Peace Corps gave me a new mountain bike. It was cheap, with fragile components, but immediately became my primary mode of transportation. I could leave my house on the bicycle and be in Blantyre in a couple of hours. I attached a basket to the rear rack, made myself toe clips out of strips of old inner tubes, and became an expert at maintaining and repairing the temperamental machine.
One day, as I was riding home from a shopping trip to Blantyre, I entered that area of the road where pedestrian traffic far outnumbers vehicles. Bicycle bells constantly rang out to clear pedestrians from the middle of the road. I had no bell, so I relied on my voice, politely saying “zikomo” (literally “thank you” but also used to say “excuse me”) to warn walkers of my approach.
On this particular day, I was riding along, daydreaming of where I would like to travel when my two-year service ended. I approached an elderly Malawian man and called out my “zikomo” warning. This old man, dressed in his formal brown suit, turned his head slowly to see who was coming. His eyes popped open in disbelief when he saw me. He quickly regained his composure and his friendly, open face lit up the road with a smile.
“Ah, aaaaahhhh!” he exclaimed.
“Moni, abambo,” (hello, father) I said. “Muli bwanji?” (How are you?).
“Ah, aaaaahhhh!” he exhaled again. “I am fine. And how are you?”
“I am also fine, father”
“You speak Chichewa very well, my son,” he said, continuing in his native tongue.
“No. No. Only a little bit, father,” I replied.
He motioned for me to stop and we spoke for a few minutes. That short conversation changed the course of my life. It was nothing that either one of us said that convinced me that bicycling was the way for me to travel. It was the fact that we were having this conversation at all. It was because I was riding a bicycle and not driving a car or motorcycle that I met this wonderful old man.
“Yendani bwino,” (travel well) he said as I rode away.
Never before had those words, heard so often, meant so much to me.
Moving the pedals was now effortless. I was thrilled to be who I was, where I was. Everything around me took on a new light. The din of a scratchy record blaring out of a run-down bottle store mingled with the drunken sounds of friendship inside was beautiful, life-affirming music. The children waved to me with their hands, their smiles, and their shining eyes.
I decided then and there that the bicycle was the mode of transportation for me. When I finished my two years of Peace Corps service, I would get a bicycle and ride somewhere. Looking at my world map made choosing the somewhere easy. I was in southern Africa. I would start at the bottom of Africa and head north. I wanted to see the Middle East and Eastern Europe, so the top of Europe was also a logical choice. Besides, I am an engineer turned math teacher. From the bottom of one continent to the top of another made simple, symmetrical sense.
I wrote over a hundred letters from my little house in Namitambo, looking for sponsorship and support, and Dave Schweidenback was one of the few who answered. There were times when I thought he was more excited about my trip than I was, and his enthusiasm helped sustain my own. He worked tirelessly to help me in any way he could and was able to get me sponsorship where I failed. He convinced Bell Sports to donate a Trek bicycle and he provided bags, tools, and accessories for me to use. His many contacts provided me with support, comfort, and friendship along my route, as well.
I left Cape Town, South Africa, on August 1, 1994. The route took me up the eastern side of Africa through Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. As I had hoped, being on the bicycle exposed me to friendly people, wild animals, amazing food, and warm hospitality. The sights, sounds, and smells of everyday African life permeated and became part of my own.
With the Sudan/Egypt border closed, I took a ferry from Eritrea, across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia. There, I was required to take a bus out of the country as they kind of frowned on blond foreigners cycling alone through their kingdom and I wasn’t too keen on the prospect of endless sand for hundreds of miles, myself.
I was back in the saddle again from the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, through Jordan (and the amazing Petra), and Israel. While it was peaceful and safe at the time, Syria was off limits to anyone coming from Israel, so I flew across the Mediterranean to southern Turkey, where I completed the Asian leg of my journey in Istanbul.
Crossing the Bosphorus into Europe, I headed north through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland, taking advantage of Peace Corps headquarters and volunteers along the way. Cruising through Lithuania, Latvia (where they only gave me a 48-hour visa), and Estonia brought me to the Baltic. Another ferry took me across to Finland where I started my final stretch to Norway, pushing myself to complete what I had started so long ago. I cycled all night, taking advantage of the 24-hours of daylight above the arctic circle in July, to reach the North Cape on the 365th day of my journey, July 31, 1995, logging over 150 miles in those 24 hours, and putting the finishing touches on nearly 12,000 miles in total.
Thanks in large part to David Schweidenback and Pedals for Progress, that year changed my life forever. I have continued to cycle, riding the same bike around Iceland and the length of Viet Nam, as well as to work nearly every day while working in Malaysia, Brazil, and here in the U.S. Most importantly, my belief in humanity, in the kindness, warmth, and compassion of everyday people, no matter their race, religion, or nationality, was forever cast in stone.
Guatemala 2020: serving people far from San Andrés
By FIDESMA
Fall 2020 Newsletter
[Our partner of longest standing is FIDESMA, located in San Andrés Itzapa, Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Since 1999 we have shipped them more than 10,000 bikes.]
Besides local people who buy bikes for work, school, errands, or sports, we also have people who travel many kilometers to buy bikes at our ECOLOBICI-FIDESMA store. They buy bikes for their families or to distribute or resell the bikes in their communities to have the same economic impact as we do locally.
Several of these people buy 6 or more bicycles, so we give them a discount. They help us reach families who have no way to get to our store or who live in places too expensive for us to travel to.
We have customers who arrive at our store every 3 or 4 months, sometimes to pick up orders that they have already made, sometimes to look for bikes on hand that they like.
Here are some examples:
- From Quetzaltenango, a distance of 150 kilometers, there is a person who comes to our store and buys many bikes.
- From Cobán, Alta Verapaz, which is 200 kilometers away, a person travels here two or three times a year and carries away many bicycles in his vehicle.
- From San Marcos, 300 kilometers away on the border with Mexico, a customer arrives once or twice a year and buys many bicycles.
- From Sololá, which is 100 kilometers away, we have a person who comes several times a year to buy many bicycles.
All this means that there are many non-local people who benefit from our bicycles: for business, pleasure, and many other everyday activities.
In these times of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the bicycle has been widely used because there is no other transport. Many people are able to buy a bicycle, but there are still many who have not been able to buy one. So we still need more bicycles to help us solve the problems of transportation in Guatemala.
THAILAND
Report from Kosovo, Spring 2020
GoBike is a social enterprise set up and registered in 2018. GoBike’s business model of growth and prosperity is closely linked with developments and contribution into the community, and most importantly the environment. GoBike believes the bicycle is the best solution for better health, cleaner environment, poverty alleviation, and more efficient transport. The objective of GoBike is to improve access to a bicycle as a means of independence, mobility, and employment. Selling and renting bicycles, promoting cycling and cyclists, teaching people how to ride a bike, recycling of used bikes are services that we currently provide. GoBike is operational between the months of March and October. In other months the weather is colder in Kosovo so people stop cycling.
Active Programs
| Program | Description | Dates Active |
|---|---|---|
| GoBike Store | GoBike initially started operating as a bicycle store. Throughout two summers of operation, it has developed other services which together with the bicycle store help us deliver our social mission. The store is located 6.5 miles from capital Pristina. GoBike received its very first shipment of bicycles in July 2018. Although new in the market in Pristina, and operational only during the warmer months of the year, we managed to become an established name, and one of the most sought-after bicycle providers in eastern Kosovo. In a country of 1.8m inhabitants, in only two summers we obtained 3,800 followers on Instagram and 1,200 on Facebook. We sold 364 bicycles to people who used them: a) to substitute cars with bicycles for their commute; b) to run errands for their business, thus cutting overall business costs; or c) to use for recreational purposes. Steady and controlled start, establishing a good name, providing bicycles at an affordable price thus increasing the number of cyclists in city streets, and promoting cycling as a healthy way of living helps the mission of GoBike as a social enterprise. | July 2018 – October 2018 and March 2019 – October 2019 |
| Renting services | In our second summer of operation, GoBike has started GoBike’s renting services. We have rented bicycles to numerous cycling events commemorating various environmental days, and to interested individuals and organizations/companies who rented bicycles for their away days with staff or to go on biking excursions. | March 2019 – October 2019 |
| Partnering, advocating and up-skilling | We have partnered with Prishtina-based youth non-governmental organization AYA ‘Pjetër Bogdani’ to promote cycling role models, and have advocated for the expansions of cycling lanes within the municipality of Prishtina. As a result, Prishtina’s mobility plan now includes expansion of cycling infrastructure, for which municipal financial resources have already been allocated. In partnership with AYA ‘Pjetër Bogdani’, we have organized Cycling Schools to teach cycling skills to around 100 children. Advocacy activities as well as joint work with AYA ‘Pjetër Bogdani’ has helped us meet other businesses and reach new clients. | March 2020 – October 2019 |
Community Impact
Partnering with Pedals for Progress has been crucial to getting the GoBike social enterprise going. Through our partnership we have managed to set up the enterprise, sell bicycles to beneficiaries from all walks of life, organize cycling events, and teach people how to ride a bike. To cover the initial expenses and consolidate the work of the new social enterprise, GoBike’s work was oriented towards commercially driven projects.
1. GoBike Store
In our first season, in 2018, GoBike was concentrated on sales. In our second season, in 2019, GoBike worked hard to build bike-renting services and to put bikes to good use for people and for the environment.
2. Rent Services – Cycling Events
GoBike has rented bicycles for numerous cycling events commemorating various environmental days, and to interested individuals and organizations who rented bicycles for their away days with staff or to go on biking excursions.
a. “Movement” Campaign – August 2019
The first activity was the campaign “Movement” with more than 200 cyclists. The purpose of the campaign was to raise awareness of policy-makers for environmental policy and to halt decisions that harm the quality of air, water and land. The movement called for concrete programs and investments in creating conditions for unimpeded pedestrian walking, dedicated bicycle trails, and unimpeded cycling for urban transport.
b. Mobility Week – September 2020
For Mobility Week, the staff of Public Housing Enterprise in Pristina decided to use cycling as a means of transport, to conduct field work, go on lunch break, or to commute to work. With the support of GoBike bicycles, they made our city beautiful, cleaner and more livable. From now on, the parking lot of the Public Housing Enterprise and the Municipality of Prishtina offer special and secure bicycle parkings for employees and citizens alike.
Mobility Week facebook video (38 seconds)
c. Critical Mass in Prishtina – June 2019
GoBike partnered with a local youth non-governmental organization AYA ‘Pjetër Bogdani’ to organize the Critical Mass in Prishtina. The event was an activity within the project “Bicycles, Me and the City”, funded by the European Union Office in Kosovo.
d. Cycling Schools in Prishtina
In June 2019, GoBike teamed up with AYA ‘Pjetër Bogdani’ to organize Cycling Schools, and teach people how to ride a bike. Cycling Schools were quite popular. One can never have enough of such events, as the demand was high, particularly amongst children.
Cycling Schools took place in downtown Pristina and were free of charge. Whilst our teams helped every interested person balance and pedal, we gave particular attention to little girls, for whom parents often neglect this important milestone in their lives: learning how to ride a bicycle, be free, and grow their independence. GoBike can only hope that through these activities we can contribute in growing the cycling community of Pristina; help young girls and boys grow independent; provide a cycling experience to the adults who have never experienced cycling before; and reduce carbon emissions air by promoting cycling as a more sustainable way of transport.
Qualitative Assessment, Impact on Beneficiaries
For the time being, the monitoring, evaluations and learning aspect of our operations are done by my family. We are using a combination of quantitative and qualitative data to assess the reach and impact of our activities so far: e.g., the number of bicycles sold (343), rented bicycle services (over 200), the income generated in a given season, and comparison with prior season(s) of operation (so far only two seasons).
Until now, we have kept in touch with clients who purchased bicycles at GoBike to learn how have the bicycles added value into their life or business, and have publicized their stories in our social media pages and also submitted human stories to P4P for the newsletters. For new projects in the future, we will use feedback forms and other tools to see how our projects are having a wider societal impact. We also keep track of the number of boys, girls, women and men who have benefited from Cycling Schools (+100 kids), or participated in Critical Mass (+50), and other cycling events we have organized – as we try to see whether access to bicycles is as easy for girls and women as it is for boys and men. Unfortunately in Kosovo there are not many female cyclists. The demand for women’s bikes is over 75% less than for men’s bikes. We notice the same trend in parents, who mostly buy bicycles for their sons but not for their daughters. This is why in our cycling schools we gave particular attention to little girls.
To evaluate the image and reach of GoBike we monitor and engage with followers’ comments, reviews and likes in GoBike’s social media.
GoBike Plans for Container 2
As a recently established enterprise, with the first contingent of bicycles, GoBike’s work was oriented towards commercially driven projects. With the second container of bikes, GoBike will continue the activities we have carried on until now, revamping some of the projects, and initiating new ones. A key goal is to generate sufficient income from selling bicycles to enable us to keep our business as a social enterprise. We hope to be able to continue promoting cyclists and cycling, especially amongst women and girls and economically disadvantaged groups. And we hope to further develop our renting services.
Sewing Machines
Sewing Machines are made available for online sale via the facebook page Sewing Machines from America (in Albanian). Just recently, GoBike has sold two machines.
GoBike is still seeking to partner with organizations that would organize sewing classes for training of people from marginalized groups.
Tanzania Report, Spring 2020
By Norbert E. Mbwiliza
Spring 2020 Newsletter
[Our partner organization in Tanzania is The Norbert and Friends Missions (NFM). A Report from Fall 2019 gives an introduction to their program and offers stories from people who have received a bike or a sewing machine. Here is their report from spring 2020.]
The February shipment was due to arrive in Dar es Salaam on 16 December 2019, but in fact arrived on 16 February 2020. The delay of the container entailed a long wait of the NFM envoy tasked to process the container clearance. We had trouble getting information on the schedule of the arrival. The long-awaited container arrived on February 16, incurring unexpected expenses. We thank God that finally the container arrived safely and the clearance process started the same day, taking 11 days, from February 16th to February 26th.
The transfer of the container to Arusha started on February 26th and arrived at NFM headquarters on February 27th; unloading began immediately. Bicycles and sewing machines were given to beneficiaries according to the preferences indicated in their orders, as shown in this table.
| Region | District | Number furnished to beneficiaries | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bicycles | Sewing Machines | ||
| Arusha | Arusha DC | 350 | 12 |
| Kurasini | – | 2 | |
| Dar es Salaam | Segerea | 4 | 13 |
| Kilimanjaro | Moshi DC | 10 | 4 |
| Kigoma | Kigoma DC | 10 | 2 |
| Singida | Ikungi | 2 | – |
| Total Distributed | 376 | 32 | |
| Remaining stock | 52 | 20 | |
Tanzania Success Stories, Spring 2020
Grayson Godson, Remen Eliona, and Junior
[We got personal stories from three students who got bikes from The Norbert and Friends Missions: Grayson Godson, Remen Eliona, and Junior. Here are some of their comments about their lives before and after getting their bikes.]
Before Getting a Bike
“In order to be on time at school, I had to be up very early in the morning, when it was still dark.”
“I live a long way from school, so I was already tired when I got there in the morning.”
“The long distance from Sasi to Oldadai primary School was totally discouraging me. . . I was sometimes late.”
“In the evening, I was arriving very late and exhausted at home and did not have enough time and energy to review my lessons and do my homeworks.”
After Getting a Bike
“I do not have enough and proper words to describe my joy and happiness at this time. With this bicycle, I will no longer toil and arrive late at school.”
“This bicycle has provided me with an easy transport that makes me arrive quickly at school without fatigue enabling me to follow lessons in all class sessions.”
“I can now get an ample time to do my homework and make my readings.”
“I will henceforth have enough time to review my lesson, do my homeworks and rest enough to gather the needed energy for the next day.”
“I am happy that this bicycle will be of a great help to increase my performance as I look forward to doing my national examination this year.”
“I will be swiftly riding to and from school. I will moreover spare my energy for class sessions and am now confident to boost my performance.”
“I address many thanks to the Norbert and Friends Missions for having made all this possible through this bicycle.”
Ruth Mbeho
Being a mother of 3 children without any reliable income is an uncertain life, a life without tomorrow. This sewing machine came to rescue me from this situation as my family and I were deeply sinking in the muddy ocean of poverty. We have been raising our hand for anyone to rescue us and the Norbert and Friends Missions have seen our hand. With this sewing machine, we will help ourselves alleviate poverty and as well other girls and young women who will come our way to acquire tailoring skills or practical tailoring experience. This is the offer I can make to increase the community impact of the tools I have received. May God Bless The Norbert and Friends Missions.
Veronica
I am much this sewing machine and my business that keep me busy apart from generating an income. This sewing machine has created for me an employment and has taken me from the street. I will sell women fabrics in my Tailoring Mart to increase my income. It is very dangerous for a young lady to live a life without any income, heavily depending on parents or family members. This opens a wide door for mischievous deeds as it is easy to get lured. The Norbert and Friends Missions are really helping the very needy category of people like me. May God continue blessing them abundantly so that their helping hand can reach many people.
Vietnam Success Story, Spring 2020
By Hanh Nguyen
Spring 2020 Newsletter
Vy Nguyen, 15 years old, was born into a poor family of four children in Vinh Long province, 120 miles west of Ho Chi Minh city. The family had only one dilapidated bicycle, which Vy rode to school, 3 miles from home, with her younger brother every morning. The couple came back home at about 11 a.m. Then Vy took her two sisters to school in the afternoon, and rode them back after school. Vy took care of the four of them while her parents were working.
Vy’s mother, Nga, worked as a lottery ticket seller. Every day she walked to sell the tickets from dawn to dusk, hardly making ends meet. The family’s income depended largely on her daily sale of tickets because they had no land for agriculture. The family faced a financial crunch due to her father’s unstable employment. The pressure of household and educational expenses of four children was continuously increasing. Sometimes they had to borrow money from relatives or friends to meet their daily household needs.
In 2015, when she was selling lottery tickets at a coffee shop, Vy’s mother met the local loan officer of The Dariu Foundation, P4P’s partner in Vietnam. The loan officer suggested that she join our microfinance program for loans and savings. In 2015, Nga took her first loan of 250 Swiss francs (about $250 U.S.) to invest in raising chickens and pigs. She continued her job selling tickets until 2016, which enabled her to repay the loan in weekly installments. In 2016, as part of a Dariu Foundation program, Vy’s mother got a P4P/SP sewing machine. She started a part-time job with the sewing machine instead of selling lottery tickets full time, and her income improved slightly.
In 2018, Vy was granted a bicycle donated by P4P via The Dariu Foundation. She used the bike in the morning and her sisters used it in the afternoon. In the afternoon, she also helped her mother with sewing jobs. This September, she will move to high school, which is 5 miles from home. The bike will be a great help to her and her family.
Over the past five years, the used bikes and sewing machines donated by P4P via The Dariu Foundation have enabled hundreds of families to overcome their difficulties, improve their mobility, incomes, and quality of life. This year, the foundation continues its partnership with P4P to extend its services to our friends and partner in Thailand. “I am sincerely grateful to P4P for your generous support,” said Hanh Nguyen, General Manager of The Dariu Foundation in Vietnam.
Guatemala Success Story, Spring 2020
Maria Isabel Luna Salazar graduated from Perito Contador high school at 18 years old. She has a 13-year-old son named Juan Daniel. She is a single mother and lives with her 62-year-old mother since her father passed away when she was 24. Since then she had to take care of her mother and her two brothers. In February 2000 she started working at FIDESMA, keeping the accounts of the Foundation. She has been in charge of delivering credits and giving training to women’s groups in rural and urban areas, and also working in the sale and repair of bicycles. In 2019 we received our 20th container from Pedals For Progress, and Isabel completed her 20th year of working at FIDESMA.
Isabel inventories Container Guatemala #6
It is incredible how the donation of a bicycle can change the life of a person, a family, and an entire country. Isabel has had the opportunity to work at FIDESMA and thus has been able to support her family and pay for her son’s studies since second grade. Now that he is a teenager he volunteers to fix bikes at FIDESMA in his spare time. Isabel’s son has been growing along with the Bicycle Project.
During these twenty years the progress of Isabel and her family has been thanks to all those people who donate bicycles, resources no longer used in the U.S. There are many single mothers like Isabel who struggle to support their families doing decent work, and there are many more stories of how bikes can change lives. Isabel has shown that with a good attitude and teamwork it is possible to achieve dreams for both yourself and your family.
That is why Isabel wants to thank with all her heart Pedals For Progress and especially President David for this support, as well as all those who donate their bicycles in the U.S. We know that everyone makes a great effort to collaborate, and the results are very satisfying in the end. THANK YOU!
Coronavirus pandemic crisis in Albania, 15 March 2020
By Pass/Ecovolis
Spring 2020 Newsletter
P4P and PASS/Ecovolis support the community’s need to go on in the middle of a global crisis.
- Free bicycles for doctors, nurses, and hospital staff in Tirana, Albania.
- Brake adjustment and tire-inflating for anyone who still has to work or who has an immediate need to move.
- Free bicycle transport for food, for pharmacy needs, for other support, for lonely elders.
It was the 15th of March, Summer Fest in Albania, one of the most popular holidays welcoming the summer, when everything was suddenly canceled. The decorations of that holiday still line the empty streets of Tirana.
The final order of the Albanian government: everything shuts down, everybody stays home. The situation is critical. Two weeks ago the pandemic had exploded in Italy, only 25 miles away from Albania. Thousands of Albanians fly in and out of Italy every day for work, business, and to meet their families. Many Italians work in Albania. The probability that the virus has invaded Albania is very high. The invisible enemy was in the air and sacrifice from everybody had to start.
Quickly we began supporting doctors and nurses by offering them free bicycles. Seventy bicycles from P4P are in use by doctors and nurses in Albania.
There are no cars in the city, no buses, no public transportation. The police and the military are serving 24 hours a day, every day. Ecovolis donated 30 children’s bicycles for the children of the police and soldiers on the front lines of the war with the virus.
Ecovolis also donated 15 bicycles to support employees of the postal service.
We donated 10 sewing machines to the elderly in difficult economic situations so they can work from home. Our activists also distributed food to poor communities.
The bicycle has helped fight the virus in Albania. P4P helped a society to continue life in the middle of a global crisis.