Redefining dis-ABLED

Mechanic Agyen Emmanuel Courtesy BNB

Meet Bikes for the World's newest partner (sort of). We have been coordinating shipments to Ability Bikes for years with Working Bikes and consulting with Bikes Not Bombs, who help set up this co-op in Ghana in 2008. July 2013 marks our first time shipping to the program from Virginia.

Ability Bikes Cooperative is a bicycle micro-enterprise in Koforidua that is owned and operated by physically challenged individuals, many afflicted by polio.

This full service repair and retail bicycle shop in the Eastern Region of Ghana imports used bikes and the staff of five mechanics, all with physical disabilities, refurbishes and sells the bikes to support the program.

John Sule Bukari Courtesy BNB

"The co-op is good for us because we are all brothers and sisters here. We share our ideas and no one is controlling someone.

I'm also very much impressed about the co-op because that one- one man, one vote. When we are in a meeting each and every one has his own vote."

     John Sule Bukari, Mechanic.

Bike shipment Courtesy BNB

Ability Bikes was established in 2008 under the supervision of David Branigan of Bikes Not Bombs. The cooperative is comprised of seven full time employees/owners, five mechanics and two administrators. Branigan helped train them for two months before turning over the shop to their proven capable hands.

"All of the members of Ability Bikes Cooperative are physically challenged, mostly from polio, and are “mobility challenged,” yet on a daily basis they run a business that provides a valuable service, increased mobility, to able-bodied people. Through these daily interactions with people in Koforidua, Ability Bikes members actively transform social perceptions of physically challenged people in society and redefine their role as highly valued," David Branigan.

Julius Amegavi Courtesy BNB

Ability Bikes challenges current social structures that are oppressive to people with disabilities. The trained mechanics in this program have proven their skill among bike owners and continue to break down barriers in society as a whole.

"I know how to do everything about the bicycle. From the time I remove a bicycle from the stand and put it on the ground I know that bicycle is a complete bicycle. The person can move it to everywhere."

     Julius Amegavi, Mechanic

Ability Bikes provides more than a full time job and skills training to its employees. Each employee shares a stake in the business. Every member is part owner and bears responsibility for the success of the shop. "Ability Bikes represents an important model for sustainable development that cultivates autonomy through capacity building and strategic technical support," David Branigan.

Agyen Emmanuel with Mirriam Oduro Courtesy BNB

Mirriam Oduro was a hair dresser before she became a mechanic with Ability Bikes. She said once she finished school she stayed in the house for a year and half because, due to her disability, she was unable to find employment. Ability Bikes employed her, trained her to become a mechanic and now she has money to support herself and her family. She has a long list of clients and excels at truing wheels. She is overcoming stereotypes, setting an example, making a difference, and providing an excellent role model for her children.

"I want my children to see me doing this work, that is my dream. I'm proud of myself because I am the only woman mechanic in Koforidua."

     Mirriam Oduro.

Check out more photos of Ability Bikes, courtesy Bikes Not Bombs.

The Right Tool for the Job

LEFT: Ghana. RIGHT: Springfield, Virginia. SAME container.

The Village Bicycle Project has been a long time partner of Bikes for the World. In fact over the last 8 years Bikes for the World has donated over 12,000 bikes to the project in Ghana and Sierra Leone making them our third largest partner (based on bikes donated). We have only donated more bikes to projects in Panama and Costa Rica, both now in the 15,000 range.

BfW bikes heading to Ghana's upper east region

BfW currently has containers on the way to the Village Bicycle Project (VBP) in both Ghana and Sierra Leone. Our last shipment to the project arrived in May and was unloaded into their new warehouse in Accra on the southern coast of Ghana.

From there, 240 bikes were transported north to the Upper East Region of Ghana where VBP was hosting a bicycle training program for three regions in June. To put the geography in perspective, the distance between Accru and Sandema, one of the villages where they were teaching, is 788 km or about 15 hours of drive time.

Basket weaver in Laabissi

For three weeks starting May 31, VBP would be teaching basic and advanced mechanics to villagers in three communities: Sandema, Nyobok, and Laabissi. The importance of the classes is to not only empower the communities that VBP serves, but to ensure that the bikes donated have a long, productive lives with their new owners.

Participants in the classes vary in age, occupation, and sex. In Nyobok, for example, VBP was shocked at the huge female turnout accounting for 72% of trainees. Most were farmers and then students.

Back in April VBP traveled to Laabissi and met the basket weavers who would be participating in the program taught in June. The bikes they received last month were all equipped with rear carriers to assist in carrying their finished baskets to market for sale. 80 women associated with this craft participated in the training programs in Laabissi.

VBP Program Coordinator Jason led the training programs alongside local trainers Sammy and Moro, both from the Upper East Region of Ghana. Not needing a translator made the curriculum much easier to deliver and grasp.

All participants paid a small fee to enter the program and received a bicycle from VBP for about $5 USD.

Upper East Region of Ghana

The landscape of this region is flat, dry, and very dusty. Everyone who took part in the Nyobok program requested 26" mountain bikes. You can imagine the maintenance that might be necessary to keep these bikes in good, clean working order. And as testament to the success of what is being taught, many of the bikes issued from the 2011 class were still in use.

Even more proof of how successful and anticipated the classes are can be seen in the attendance. Eager participants were gathered in Nyobok by dawn the day of training. The start time was supposed to be 8am, but they called for the trainers as early as 6am.

Later in the day, VBP offered a more in depth look into bicycle mechanics in their Advanced Class. Here participants learn skills like wheel truing and bearing assemblies. They are also offered hand tools at a 50% discount. There was such a huge turn out VBP ended up holding two classes instead of one and had to bring in more tools from the warehouse.

Jacob and Emmanuel came out to help VBP with training in Nyobok. Emmanuel's wife received a bike during the last training session. Jacob is in his early 20s and he also helped last time. The VBP trainers saw a huge improvement in his skills from before. Both local trainers were gifted with bicycle specific tools for assisting.

Pelungu is the nearest market town where bike owners go for parts and repairs. Francis, the local mechanic there, runs a large workshop with a staff of twenty. VBP is suggesting Jacob train under Francis to become an actual bicycle mechanic.

Young student learns how to loosen handlebars

VBP continues to focus on teaching females not only how to ride a bicycle but how to care for them. In Laabissi, one young woman caught the eye of trainers. 18 year-old Rita Putebil joined the Advance Class and volunteered for every demonstration and excelled in all the practicals.

Later that evening they invited her back and introduced even more specific tools such as the crank-puller and chain-breaker. Training with these types of tools is usually left for local bicycle repairers. VBP gave Rita her own set of tools before tasking her with the challenge of caring for the 80 bikes delivered to her community by VBP.


Dispatch 32: Simon, What We Learned from Ash Dumford on Vimeo.

NORM!

Norm Jacob, Kevin Dolan, and Keith Oberg

Cheers! We had a donor give us TEN brand NEW Kona Africa bikes around Christmastime last year and we want everyone to know his name. So when you wander into Race Pace Bicycles in Columbia this season we want you to yell, "Norm" like you just walked into that famous bar in Boston.

This isn't the first time Norm Jacob donated a fleet of new bicycles to Bikes for the World. A few years back he bought quite a few one speed Kona Africa Bikes that we shipped to Uganda.

Then late last year, we got word from Race Pace that he was at it again! This time he bought 10 3-speed Africa Bikes that were included in our latest shipment to Kenya.

But we wanted to know more about our "Secret Santa" so we went up to Race Pace to meet him in person. Turns out Norm is a part time mechanic there.

Norm shared with us how that happened, "I used to be in public service. I'd just like to do something completely different. And this is completely different."

When Norm retired he was looking around for something to do (besides ride his bike) and an employee at Race Pace suggested he take their Parks Tool course. After he finished up the guy approached him and offered him a job.

"I thought, let's give this a shot. That was seven or eight years ago."

That would be about right. Norm told us the reason he originally took the job at Race Pace was because he had heard about Bikes for the World and he wanted to get involved with the organization. "I got to thinking that was a pretty good thing to do," says Norm. So he wanted to hone his skills to help BfW.

"We often had to wrestle, literally, with them in the back 'til they got picked up." He is talking about our bike donations that come in through Race Pace. All Race Pace locations serve as an intake point for us. In fact, before opening their new shop, they even let us park a trailer at their Ellicott City location.

 When Norm found out we ship the bikes overseas 'as is' to help generate employment there, he decided to make an even bigger impact. So he decided to use an employee discount to buy new bikes to donate.

New bike donation from Donald Mahley

"I certainly hope I'm not the only one who's donated new bikes," Norm humbly questioned.

And after poking around the warehouse, we managed to find this brand new Trek (left) that came in through Spokes Etc., also around the holidays.

All of these new bikes were recently loaded by Sasha Bruce Youthwork, who came out to Lorton for a service project. This shipment will be sent to BfW partner Wheels of Africa in Kenya.

Several regular volunteers as well as some from Fairfax Volunteers for Change came out during the two-day load to help us process many bikes that came in from area bike shops.

After a year-end holiday sales offer, Spokes Etc, our largest local bike retailer partner, added another 50 or more bikes to our supply. Many of these bikes were included in this 522 bike shipment (quite a few of them 'like new'). We are confident that our Kenyan partner will LOVE this container.

Success Stories: Odison Robles Panama

ODISON ROBLES

Come Christmastime, things get busy at partner Goodwill Panama, and especially in the bicycle mechanic training and employment program. The season’s demands — more bikes in operating condition, ready to be sold to workers and families flush with cash from year-end bonuses — keep senior apprentice and apprentice supervisor Odison Robles under sustained pressure. His supervisory responsibilities multiply with the work load, mentoring as many as eight apprentice mechanics (compared to an average of five at any one time during the other eleven months of the year).

The surge in sales at this time happens for a combination of reasons. Christmas, of course, is a time in Christian cultures when families purchase gifts, and a bicycle is a prized possession for anyone, young or old, whether for work, recreation or transportation to school. Year-end is when salaried workers also receive a “thirteenth month” payment from employers, facilitating the purchase of a big-ticket item like a bicycle. Vacations and the dry, temperate weather in Panama during this season provide the time and ideal conditions for bicycle-riding.

Goodwill Panama has earned a reputation for offering reliable bicycles at affordable prices. These are sold in its Panama City store — where it trains salespeople — or throughout the country via a partnership with the Rotary club network and with small merchants. Almost ten percent of Goodwill Panama’s annual budget for job training and employment services, job placement, and post-employment is supported through the sale of bicycles. This covers scholarships and salaries — such as for Odison and his peers.

Odison has come a long way. Growing up in Alcalde Diaz, Villa Victoria — a rural zone on the outskirts of Panama City where, according to Goodwill Panama director Angel Diaz, “the conditions of life aren’t the best” — Odison had dropped out of school, despite his parents’ pleas, and showed no interest in school or doing anything constructive with his life. Desperate because of the boy’s general rebelliousness, his parents brought the 14-year old to Goodwill Panama.

There they registered Odison in the Goodwill Vocational Education Center, where young people with special needs receive vocational education in the metal-working shop in the morning, complemented with primary and secondary education in the afternoon. Odison began in the bike shop, where he absorbed the basic technical skills and developed self-confidence, self-discipline, and the ability to work with others. After less than two years, repairing bicycles and little by little picking up additional metal-working and (equally important) interpersonal skills, he became supervisor of the apprentices.

Now 17, Odison as supervisor plays a central role in the orientation and training of youths entering Goodwill Panama’s workshop apprentice and career development program. New entrants begin with the repair of bicycles, becoming familiar with the components of bicycles and the simple hand tools required to assemble and dis-assemble them. They develop skills at following directions, working as part of a team, and taking on responsibility. Depending upon their interests and qualifications, apprentices move on to related areas, including wheelchair repair and soldering/metal-working putting together ornamental grill work for security doors, gates, and fences. Graduates can be placed by Goodwill with private firms through a four-month apprenticeship, establish their own businesses, or seek employment on their own. Over the last 18 months, Odison has mentored 20 apprentices.

With his achievements in diverse areas of metal working, and confidence growing with the responsibility of mentoring younger youth, Odison will soon move on. When he turns 18, he will be eligible for the corporate placement program. One day, perhaps, he could own his own metal-working business.

 Odison continues to live with his mother and two brothers in Alcalde Diaz. He reports regularly fixing his siblings’ bikes and those of neighbors, making himself a respected figure in the community, and is happy with his daily labor within the Goodwill workshop. Thanks to Bikes for the World, Goodwill Panama, and individuals like Odison, there are some 15,000 individuals in Panama making use of the power of the bicycle to improve their lives.

Spares and Repairs

Ever wonder what happens to that container of bikes we load maybe at King Farm or Lorton?  You may have seen a lot of pictures of kids on bikes, bikes being used for work and school, bikes in shops supporting other non profit organizations overseas....but what about the actual containers?

Every single thing we ship overseas gets reused. It may be the bike, the OSB board we stack the bikes on, the rubber tubes and tires we use to level the rows, or YES, even the container itself.

Bikes for the World's partner Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN) has roots in Namibia and South Africa. BfW supports both programs.

BEN empowers local entrepreneurs with shipments of used bicycles and parts from organizations such as Bikes for the World and Working Bikes for example.

BEN not only supplies remote areas of Africa with bikes but also trains new bike mechanics, and offer business and computer classes to ensure new bike businesses flourish even in those remote areas of Africa.

This is what they call a Bicycle Empowerment Centre. Straight from the BEN website:

Through a partnership with a volunteer network, Bicycles for Humanity, BEN Namibia developed a new bicycle distribution model, the Bicycle Empowerment Centre (BEC). A BEC is a shipping container loaded with around 300 bicycles, spare parts and tools. BECs are delivered to the community based organisations that BEN Namibia works with and are run as bicycle workshops.

Each BEC uses its income from initial bicycle sales and servicing to ensure that it will be able to operate in the future, paying mechanics' wages, buying new spare parts, and covering the costs of resupply of bicycles. A portion of the bicycles are given to outreach volunteers or other beneficiaries like children walking to school, while a share of profits are used to fund community social initiatives.

 This isn't a 'set it and forget it' operation. BEN is a continual resource for these shop owners and mechanics. If a tricky derailleur comes in the shop, a mechanic, such as Mr. Bean (photo left), might go to the BEN training center to tap the knowledge of BEN's lead mechanic.

And the money raised through these bike shops isn't just a For Profit effort. Much of the proceeds go back into the shop to buy parts and bikes, but they also fund new entrepreneurial projects such as a concrete business that was started from BEC funds. 

Profits also support other non-profit efforts throughout Africa. The Tsumeb Bike shop supports the Tsumeb Hope Centre which feeds between 100-200 children daily.

Cycle 4 Life BEC in Mariental brings money in to feed children in the local Catholic AIDS Action orphan support programme.

As you can see a donated bike from a Northern Virginia garage can change more than just one life overseas. When we say your donations are changing entire communities, we mean it!

Success Stories: Frankie Hinds Barbados

FRANKIE HINDS

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

In a short time, his uncle taught him some basic skills, working on derailleurs and shifters, and then—noticing some precocious talent—challenged him to true his road bike wheels.  “I told him he’s crazy,” said Frankie, but his uncle started at the beginning, teaching him “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 truing a wheel using his thumb as a gauge, the rust on the rim would wear down his thumbnail.

Bikes for the World 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 generally crowded with bikes, and lacking a truing stand or work stand with clamp, he must hang a bike by its seat on a strap from the ceiling.  Unsteady, but functional, permitting him to stand and use both hands. 

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 volume and 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 at Pinelands on a part-time basis, and when the regular mechanic resigned to take a job outside the cycling profession, Frankie stepped up and took his place.

Not only did Frankie have a natural mechanical talent, but he found helping others fulfilling.  There was “always a joy to it.”  A neighbor or a customer would bring a bike in bad shape, Frankie would work on it, 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 able to carry his tools to and from work.  

With four 40’ container shipments and approximately 1700 bikes annually, Frankie is able to handle the bike assembly and reconditioning needs of the project with the part-time mechanic assistance of his friend 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 repair service, in this throw-away society, is “a dying trade”.)

While 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 girl friend 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 frees Frankie to experiment and take risks.