Teaming Up In Africa

Bikes arriving in Kenya

Bikes for the World is shipping to Kenya again this weekend. It's our last loading of the year and we need your help out at Lorton.

Friday December 14   10am - 2pm
Saturday December 15   10am - 2pm

Wheels of Africa (WoA) is one of our new programs of 2012. The organization was established in 2008 to bring awareness to cycling in Kenya and in turn making cycling safer in remote areas. But it's not just a cycling 'club'. Wheels of Africa provides donated bikes at affordable prices to people who would otherwise not be able to afford one.

WoA helps put more people on bikes and keep them safe

They have also donated some of the bikes given to their program to further their mission of increasing cycling in Kenya. They recently donated five bikes to Our Lady of Peace Primary School. The also took part in a Training Program in Nairobi teaching kids bike handling to sharpen their riding skills.

In addition to the work they are doing in the community to get more people skilled and on bikes, they are also providing adventure rides to tourists of all skill levels.  So if you are in Nairobi anytime soon, look them up!

Ivy lives 3km from school in Baclayon, Philippines

One of the aspects of cycling we at Bikes for the World have always been concerned about is safety. From our offices in the DC area, however, we can provide helmets with our shipments, but we can't be sure they are being used. In the Philippines, for example, the kids in the program are REQUIRED to wear a helmet while on a bike and it is strictly enforced. It's a contained area with not many kids on bikes, they are easy to pick out.

But when you ship bikes to an area such as Kenya or Namibia and the bikes are being dispersed over a large area to adults and kids it's harder to track who is doing what. This is when it's great to be working with established nonprofits on the other side with people on the ground doing that leg work for you.

Paulina Endjala, BEN Namibia's mechanic trainer

Even better is when two partners team up and work together. That's what BEN Namibia (another BfW partner) is doing with Wheels of Africa. BENN now has mechanics on the ground training new mechanics involved with the WoA program in Kenya. Currently, Paulina Endjala has been training mechanics on the island of Mfangano as part of an initiative of Bicycles for Humanity Colorado.

Here is an email they just received from Samwel, one of Paulina's trainees:

"Yes aim samwel from Kenya i am living in a small island around lake victory, i would like to take this chance to thank your organization for sending one of your trainer madam polina to our island mfangano . me samwel i was blessed so much.May God bless you samwel."

  post.  Here you can see a group from the Kaoko Bicycle Shop, a remote shop set up by BENN, with their Christmas stock of solar lights ready to sell.

Elephant Energy with BENN

Another group out of Colorado helping to bring safety to Namibia is Elephant Energy, who we told you about in a previous

Elephant Energy has been working with BENN to bring solar power to the remote villages where they have set up bike shops using the containers our bikes are shipped in. Using the BENN network of employees (trainers) Elephant Energy has been able to train locals in solar power, how to repair the lights and solar pads, and how to sell the product.

Courtesy BENN

We are pleased to see this partnership forming between two of our partners in Africa, Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN) and Wheels of Africa. With the successful model of BENN behind them and the partners BENN has established in Africa, Wheels of Africa has a great hub in place in moving forward.

From October 1st BENN facebook page:

BEN Namibia today began its support programme for partner organisation, Wheels of Africa, in Nairobi. BEN Namibia will assist WoA with strategic planning, mechanic and business training and share our experiences with developing a network of 30 bicycle shops in Namibia. The WoA bike shop was started with support from Wheels of Change, Montana, and Tour d'Afrique foundation, both BEN Namibia partners.

Night Riders

Carlos with Angela, Jose, and bike owner

We recently told you about one man's quest to bring cycling safety to the rural roads of Nicaragua. Carlos Ovalle approached BfW looking for a way to help poorer cyclists be seen at night in areas such as where we ship bikes. There is little to no bike culture in many of these areas and therefore often no safety measures in place to protect multi-road users that you tend to see in rural villages.

Here in the urban areas of DC there are many organizations such as the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) who stand up for cyclists' rights and safety. Teaming up with DDOT in the fall WABA hands out blinky lights to cyclists on the street in their annual Got Lights event.

The Firefly Brigade in Manila did a similar event for the beneficiaries of our partner program Bikes for the Philippines. Although lights and reflectors are incredibly important in these remote, often extremely dark places, there is often an issue of power. Batteries can be expensive and hard to come by. Even if these lower income bike owners could afford rechargeable lights they often have no way of regenerating the energy.

Elephant Energy partners with BENN

Meet Elephant Energy. Elephant Energy is a non-profit organization out of Colorado whose mission is to bring affordable, sustainable energy solutions to developing communities. This summer they expanded with the help of our partner program Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN) in Namibia by offering solar powered bike lights to beneficiaries in this program.

Ovalle brings reflective tape to Nicaragua

Another low cost solution to visibility is reflective tape. Wheel reflectors that often come with new bikes, as you can see in this photograph to the right, are sometimes lost, broken, or stolen by the time our beneficiaries receive and use our donated bikes.

This is why, when Ovalle approached us with his idea to install inexpensive, theft resistant reflective tape on bicycles, we were interested in learning more. How easy would it be to distribute the reflective tape? Would bikers be receptive to the idea? Would it make a difference? Is this an initiative we would be interested in funding?

Ovalle is currently in Nicaragua finding out some of these answers. Here is an excerpt from one of his latest emails:

     "We did a trial run tonight, two bikes at the Instituto Nacional Francisco Luis Espinosa, during night school. Tomorrow we'll go to a tobacco factory where at least 100 bikes await us. The reception was amazing, we had a small crowd around us and when we showed them the pics of the bikes, taken with flash to simulate car lights they were amazed. One thing that I see is that it'll be difficult to provide follow-up as these two had no phone or email and postal addresses in Nicaragua."

The eBox Beginning: From Namibia to Madagascar

Michael Linke (back) with the crew at Walvis Bay

So where did this Malagasy idea of an 'eBox' come from? None other than BfW partner BEN Namibia (BENN) and founder Michael Linke. In fact it's BENN's model and training that made the bike enterprise 'box' come to life in Madagascar through overseeing partner Transaid.

After Transaid identified the need for a motivating, sustainable project to compliment the health initiatives in Menabe, the idea of bikes and repair was a natural fit. And they looked to BENN, who has been running successful bike co-op shops for nearly a decade, for guidance.

TKMOAMS eBox crew with Michael Linke and Madagascar visitors

Two years ago these minds got together and laid out a plan to bring the eBox idea to Madagascar. Michael visited Madagascar and key players from the MAHEFA program in Madagascar paid BENN a visit to see the eBox in action.

Together, these two groups created the Malagasy eBox system, which looked a whole lot like BENN's eBox genius. BfW was quick to jump on board to help support the effort in Madagascar knowing first hand the success in Namibia.

BENN established their first official eBox (known then as a BEC, Bicycle Empowerment Centre) in December of 2006.  This is also the first year BfW and BENN joined forces. Since then, BfW has donated nearly 2,000 bikes to Namibia in support of this program.

Gloria rides by local eBox

An eBox is a shipping container filled with about 350 bikes, spare parts, and tools which BENN delivers and positions in rural communities around Namibia. They are run as small businesses that often times become the hub of the community.

In addition to the tangible components of a bike shop, BENN also provides training to new mechanics and business skills essential to running a successful business.

What began as solely a 'bike business' has grown into much more over the last decade. Many of the established eBoxes provide funding to other organizations and community run efforts through income from bike sales. The eBoxes are supporting health care workers, feeding children, and providing jobs and transportation in areas where cars are scarce.

Solar power station. Photo: Elephant Energy

And it's no longer just about the bike. Elephant Energy introduced the idea of the powerful FREE solar service to communities around Namibia. EBoxes now also sell solar powered devices and travel around promoting the idea of using the sun to power items like lights and even cell phones.

Through other partnerships, like Elephant Energy, eBoxes now supply a range of goods and services to the community, outside of 'just bikes'. This prompted BENN to change the name of these entrepreneurial shops from BECs, less emphasis on just BICYCLES, to eBoxes, more emphasis on ENTERPRISE and growth.

Miandrivazo container shipped thru BfW

Back to Madagascar. In 2015, BfW sent the shipping container seen in this photo (left) to the co-op eBox known as Miandrivazo. The container was packed with bikes, tools, and spare parts to help get this co-op off the ground and rolling. Just this month a second container arrived in Madagascar from BfW.

And, as in Namibia, this newly formed bike business is already doing more than just selling bikes. It's creating jobs, incentives for health workers, and even planting the seed (pun intended) for new business ideas. Plans are already in the works for this community to start diversified businesses ranging from selling rice, fish, and vegetables.