Later this fall, 24 people will travel to Africa to ride their bikes in Zambia and South Africa to learn more about what World Bicycle Relief can make possible.
The bike tour, which includes pro cycling team manager Johan Bruyneel, also hopes to raise $1 million toward the efforts to provide tens of thousands of bicycles to people in those countries.
The non-profit was founded in 2005 by the SRAM Corporation and Trek Bicycle to get transportation — bicycles — into coastline communities devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami.
Since then, World Bicycle Relief has expanded its reach to Africa. The group believes that many of the problems on that continent — access to market, education, and health care — are problems of mobility that can be solved by the bicycle.
Spread word
While the so-called Million Dollar Ride will raise money for the charity's programs, it also is aimed to spread the word about how bicycles can help raise people out of poverty. BikeRadar.com says the bike tour participants will meet HIV/AIDS caregivers, student recipients of bikes, and microfinance loan clients who used their loans to purchase bikes.
Ownership of a bicycle can make a big difference in the Third World where transportation is limited. World Bicycle Relief calculates how bikes can improve efficiency and performance:
Bicycles increase the distance a person can travel by four times compared to walking.
Bicycles save time, approximately three hours for every ten miles traveled compared to walking.”
But it has to be the right bike. Those produced for street travel don't last long in Africa's harsh environment. A new heavy-duty bicycle assembled in Africa with input from SRAM, Trek, Cannondale and India's TATA is being put into use for the World Bicycle Relief programs.
Ongoing programs
Currently, World Bicycle Relief has several ongoing programs in Africa that distribute those bicycles. They are:
Bicycles for Educational Empowerment — Beginning in June 2009, the program will distribute 50,000 bicycles to children in rural Zambia to enable them to get to school. Those in the high poverty area are at risk for high HIV/AIDS infection rates.
Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) — The group provided 300 bicycles to the CHAI program to health care workers in six countries who treated people living with AIDS/HIV.
Project Zambia — Since 2006, World Bicycle Relief has distributed 23,000 bicycles to health-care workers and disease prevention educators working with the AIDS/HIV epidemic. This was in conjunction with World Vision International.
Microfinance — Partnering with Zambia's microfinance bank HARMOS, this program makes loans for bike purchases to households, businesses and communities. Started as a year-long pilot in January 2008, the program ran out of bikes by mid-April with a 97% payback rate.
It's amazing to realize that access to bicycles — something most of us take for granted — can mean the difference between life or death and financial success or ruin in rural Africa.
The World Bicycle Relief website has a lot more information about programs and tells how individuals can get involved.
Recent Comments