From a Rockville Student to a Student in Bohol

King Farm

This year Bikes for the World reconditioned and donated 33 bikes to the TERRIFIC citizens of Rockville on May 18, 2014.

New helmets, donated by Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, and BfW bicycles were awarded to 33 children ages 5-12 who participated in the Rockville Recreation and Parks Department’s “Terrific Bikes” program.

 

Kommy, 2014 Terrific bike earner

Bikes for the World collects unwanted bikes in the community and fixes them up at our King Farm warehouse. Some of these bikes are then given back to the community through the city's earn-a-bike program.  The majority of our bikes are donated to a dozen partner programs around the globe.

 

Children earned the bikes by completing at least six responsible acts, such as perfect school attendance for one month or volunteering at a charitable organization for an hour. Many did much more, including one 9-year-old who earned a bike for his younger brother so he could learn to ride.

Gabrielle, 2013 Terrific bike earner AND donor

Every year we find stories such as these where a young bike earner turns around and gives that bike to someone else. The last two years, in fact, several students brought us their old bikes that they had outgrown to donate to our program.

In 2013 we told you about Gabrielle, who earned a bike even though she had just received a new one for her birthday. She wanted to help another young person find the joys of riding a bike. This year we have an update on that bike Gabrielle donated.

Crea Ocdenaria

Crea Ocdenaria is a Junior at Pagnitoan National High School in Maribojoc, Bohol Philippines. Thanks to Gabrielle's efforts, Crea is now one of about 50 new bike beneficiaries in our latest school project in the Philippines.

Crea lives in the Barangay of Dipatlong which is about 3 kilometers from school. That's almost a four mile round trip walking everyday. Crea was chosen for the bike program based on her family's distance from school as well, as their financial situation. Her father, Edwin, is a laborer and earns about $100 a month for their family. Crea's mom, Marita is a housewife. Crea has three siblings, one brother and two sisters.

 

Pagnitoan HS beneficiaries practice riding skills

The bike Gabielle donated, a blue and silver Power Climber, is now helping Crea get to and from school faster, allowing her more time to study and help her mother with the house and her siblings. Crea is an honor student with a 90.6 average.

Many students are in danger of dropping out of school because of their lengthy commutes. Bicycles are helping entire families by keeping kids in school and getting them home faster to help with errands or family chores.

Pagnitoan National High School is the second school to take part in the Bikes for Education program established by Bikes for the Philippines and supported by Bikes for the World. Our newest beneficiaries just received their bikes after about a six month delay. The devastation last fall caused by the earthquake damaged much of Maribojoc, including the school (you can still see the rubble of a school building behind the bike beneficiaries in the photo above).

 

Kick Off Bike Month In Style

"Bikes for the World is proud to partner for a third year with DICK'S Sporting Goods, the nation's preeminent sporting goods retailer, to help Americans acquire a new bike, and ride more, while putting their old bike to good use, transforming lives around the world. Our third year national partnership with DICK'S Sporting Goods confirms both parties' joint commitment to building a cycling culture worldwide," said Keith Oberg, Director Bikes for the World.

From Sunday, May 4 to Saturday May 10, consumers will have the opportunity to support the initiative by bringing in their used bike to a local DICK'S Sporting Goods store. Through Bikes for the World, the bikes donated during this period will be repurposed and distributed to lower income communities in the U.S. and around the world. Individuals who participate in the trade-in will also receive a discount toward a new bike purchase.

"We are excited to continue our third annual partnership with Bikes for the World, furthering our company's mission to provide more people access to suitable athletic equipment," said Lauren Hobart, Chief Marketing Officer of DICK'S Sporting Goods. "Together, with Bikes for the World, we're hoping to expand the footprint of this philanthropic program and continue to give back to communities in need."

Oberg continues, "as a result of last year's collaboration, we expanded our deliveries of suitable used bicycles to lower-income communities by almost 50%, enhancing many more livelihoods through better transportation and generating skilled employment in bicycle repair and maintenance."

Last year, Bikes for the World donated over 13,500 bikes globally to a dozen partners worldwide. Beneficiaries such as Dankay (right) learn to ride through BfW partners such as Village Bicycle Project in Sierra Leone. Dankay is an 8 year old orphan and her donated bike gives her hope and encouragement to continue her education and to believe in herself.

Courtesy Bikes Not Bombs

Ability Bikes Cooperative is a new Bikes for the World partner operating in Ghana. Thanks to the partnership with DICK'S Sporting Goods we were able to ship our first container to this group established in 2008.

Ability Bikes Cooperative is a worker-owned bike shop based in Koforidua, Ghana. It is owned and operated by physically challenged people, like Miriam (left) who were afflicted by polio. Ability Bikes imports, refurbishes, and sells our donated bikes at affordable prices to working people who need them.

This year Bikes for the World expects to send a third container of 500 bikes to Bikes for the Philippines to help expand the bikes for education program in the Philippines. Just last month a second school district was added to the program in Maribojoc on the island of Bohol. Maribojoc was devastated after the 2013 earthquake. As they rebuild, the bike program continues to provide hope to the students enrolled in the program.

Jake Palijado (right) was one of the first bike beneficiaries in the program. He graduates this year from Baclayon National High School and will then join Bikes for the Philippines to help maintain bikes for the program in Maribojoc as well as to serve as a mentor to new beneficiaries.

The bikes collected through DICK'S Sporting Goods will allow us to send another container of bikes to the Philippines to keep more students from dropping out due to transportation, financial, and time burdens on the family.

Bikes for the World partners with non-profit agencies in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia. To date Bikes for the World has donated bicycles to 21 non-profit community development organizations in 17 countries. Find the full list on our website as well as a number of success stories from our beneficiaries.

Bohol Beneficiary Update

Bikes for the Philippines (BfP) is expanding its Bikes for Education project to include a second school district, in Maribojoc, on the island of Bohol. After about a six month delay the training of the beneficiaries will begin next week.

In November 2012, Bikes for the World sent a second container of donated bikes to Manila to support adding this second school district, Pagnituan National High School. The pilot effort, in neighboring Baclayon, has been a huge success. When the program started in 2011-2012 the drop out rate for Baclayon was 4.5%; today that rate is 1.67%. Nationally the rate for the 2011-2012 school year was 7.8%.

Our donated bikes were met in Manila by a large volunteer network mobilized by Bikes for the Philippines. The central warehouse allows bikes to be refurbished by these volunteers before they are shipped to the smaller island of Bohol.

In September 2013, the Philippine Navy delivered 190 refurbished bicycles and spare parts to two projects, a smaller school effort on the island of Cebu and the larger school district, Pagnituan National High School in Bohol. The Bohol bikes were to be stored in Baclayon at Peacock Garden Resort where the bikes were secure and under cover, but not completely out of the weather pattern soon to come.

On October 15, 2013, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the region, rocking Maribojoc which was situated right on top of the North Bohol Fault Line, where the earthquake originated. Access to Maribojoc was immediately cut off from the capital when the main bridge leading into the village collapsed. Supplies would be ferried into town by tiny shipping boats.

All schools in the district suffered tremendous structural damage. Outdoor classrooms were set up under makeshift tents and villagers were living in shelters or compromised structures. Three weeks later the Super Typhoon Haiyan hit. The eye of the storm swung north of Bohol, devastating the island of Leyte. Much of Bohol's water and electric were generated from this island and wiped out in the typhoon.

With the kids unable to attend school and the community shaken from two major natural disasters back to back, it was clear the bike program would need to be suspended for the time being. BfP shifted efforts to rebuilding Maribojoc and began delivering things like rice and books to the struggling community.

April 2014. Currently, BfP  is poised to begin training beneficiaries  first thing next month (April). After spending some time in the elements, our bikes sitting at Peacock Gardens could use a little TLC maintenance, which will be completed by two students beneficiaries from our pilot program in Baclayon.

Jake Palijado

The Mayor of Maribojoc and the Department of Education worked together to designate two classrooms in Pagnituan that will serve as a warehouse and makeshift repair shop. Once they graduate next month, Jake Palijado and Hermongenes Pocot will assess and repair the bikes to be loaned to the next round of beneficiaries in Maribojoc. These two graduates will also serve as mentors and role models to the new beneficiaries in Pagnituan.

Meanwhile, Bikes for the Philippines is already looking at where the next container of bikes will be placed. Marikina, a school district on the island of Luzon (where Manila is located) and another on the island of Cebu are currently being evaluated. Storage, volunteer hands, and transportation continue to be a consideration especially given the complications that arose in Bohol during the latest round of storms, not to mention the ship transport and the exposure to salt water and sea air the bikes experienced.

The Power of a Girl and Her Bike

Bikes in Honduras

This weekend a new film by Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour opens in the DC area. Wadjda tells the story of a girl of the same name who wants to buy a bicycle to race a boy in town.

Problem is girls don't ride bikes and they don't intermix with boys...not in Saudi Arabia. That goes for women too, but here we have a female filmmaker shooting the first full length film in a country that doesn't even have movie theaters. If that's not a persistent woman pursuing a dream we don't know what is!

In a recent interview with Haifaa Al Mansour she speaks of growing up in Saudi Arabia and feeling invisible. She was simply trying to find a voice and in doing so gave one to Wadjda, an 11 year old girl who just wants to ride a bike. But it's never just about the bike.

Sierra Leone courtesy Village Bicycle Project

Obstacles facing women and young girls is something we hear a lot from our partners overseas. In fact, many of our partners make it a priority to empower women specifically.

Village Bicycle Project (VBP) in Ghana and Sierra Leone target girls in their riding clinics and mechanic classes. When they first started working with girls they noticed that when they gave them bicycles the boys would steal the bikes from them.

To overcome this road block VBP first gave boys bikes and simply taught the girls how to ride. That way they could borrow their brothers bikes and continue honing the skill.

Another solution was the establishment of the Learn 2 Ride Bicycle Library in Sierra Leone. It works a lot like a regular library, loaning bikes to girls for the semester so they can get to and from school. VBP is then responsible for the maintenance of the bikes. They found that if the bikes were on loan, the male family members did not take over the bike.

Adamsay with loaned bike courtesy VBP

The big downside of the library model? VBP Director Dave Peckham expressed concern that unfortunately when the girls go on to college they are no longer riding bicycles.

Meg Watson, also of VBP, pointed out, "I can't feel too bad about this, as it means the girls we invested in are in college!!"

Bikes for the Philippines also loans bikes to students to help them stay in school, but upon graduation they earn the bike outright. They also had several girls complete the program and go on to college. No word on whether they took their bikes to school with them.

Zoila courtesy ChildFund

 Bikes for the World's newest partner in Mozambique is ChildFund International. ChildFund works in 31 countries and exists to help deprived, excluded and vulnerable children have the capacity to improve their lives and the opportunity to become young adults, parents and leaders who bring lasting change in their communities.

Many of their priorities are also focused on women and girls. They are empowering women through savings and loans and small businesses initiatives and by providing life skills for youth, particularly women.

“I advise my sisters and brothers that we have to think of our future. We can do many good things, but sometimes we think of marriage as a first option, but it is not the most important because we are still very young.” -Zoila, 15 

Hirabai Courtesy Jake Lyell Productions

Young girls have the added hardship of social expectations that keep them in the homes caring for younger siblings and contributing to house chores. Walking long distances over rural roads also brings danger and insecurity forcing many girls to drop out of school.

ChildFund's Dream Bikes program is bring bikes to students like Hirabai (far right) in India. In India we hear very similar stories to those coming from our education project in Bohol, Philippines.

Courtesy Jake Lyell Production

Many students live 3km or more from school and struggle to arrive on time every day. If they are late they are kept out of the morning classes, missing many lessons.

Many of these same obstacles exist for girls around the world. In Mozambique, ChildFund points to evidence that states girls whose families have a bicycle and use it for chores have 32% higher probability of staying in school than girls in rural areas who do not have a bicycle.

Bikes for the World sent an initial shipment to ChildFund Mozambique just this week. Bikes collected at recent collections with Ann Jackson and Friends, Pedal Pushers, and Falls Church Recycling, in addition to bikes we received this summer from DICK'S Sporting Goods were included in the shipment of 500 bikes.

Here, Outreach Coordinator Yvette Hess hands a bike to Daniel Richard of the Pentagon Area Junior Petty Officers Association. The bike was donated by Margaret McEvoy of NW DC and is now on it's way to Mozambique.

In addition to the Sailors who helped finish the load we were joined by a corporate team building group from IBM who loaded over half the container the day before. We hope to hear great things coming from this project (and possibly more countries!) from ChildFund in the near future. Please follow our progress (and theirs) on Facebook.

Bikes for Education

Last month Bikes for the World's partner Bikes for the Philippines signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Education in the Philippines.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said bike donations from the Bikes for the Philippines Foundation Inc. will provide suitable means of transportation for poor but deserving individuals and help teach them valuable skills making this a two pronged benefit.

"The students have a hard time going to school due to lack of suitable transportation and they are at high risk of dropping out," Luistro said. “The bikes will not only help them get to school but also provides a way to teach road safety and environmentalism.”

The importance of this project, dubbed Bikes for Education, is clear and simple: keeping kids in school. Throughout the Philippines the drop rate among students is a persistent problem. According to DepEd data, the drop-out rate among high school students in Bohol was high at 5.63 percent in 2011.

This pilot bike project brought about 150 bikes to students in Bohol with another 200 about to be delivered to a neighboring school district. Recently another 50 were delivered to a school on the island of Cebu. Every single bike represents one step closer to graduation for its new owner.

Many students are responsible for chores around the house before and after school. Beneficiaries in the bike program all live 3km or more from school and many of them walk this distance to and from school every day.

The school day runs from 8 to 5 and if the kids are late they have to sit out until the afternoon session, missing valuable lessons. The roads to school are also steep and rough and students are often walking home in the dark. After completing family chores there is little time for homework.

On the rough, sometimes crowded roads in these remote towns you might find an overcrowded bus with students hanging off the roof. Jeepneys and habel-habels (seen left) can be found on the shared roads these kids are traveling to and from school.

Although motorized transportation is available in these areas, the fares are often too expensive. The rides can also be quite dangerous. Walking six miles round trip to school is often a burden some families cannot endure and students are forced to drop out.

Beneficiaries in the program are required to wear helmets and pass extensive written and hands on tests regarding road and bike safety and maintenance.

Students are encouraged to mentor younger students and often take part in community activities from feeding orphans, to spreading cycling advocacy in town, to standing up for environmental causes like Earth Hour.

Bikes for the Philippines director Joel Uichico said they are looking into expanding the project to cover more areas. With the partnership forged between Bikes for the Philippines and Department of Education this is a hope and dream likely to come true.

"I have asked the field offices to evaluate their areas to see if their students can be beneficiaries as well," Luistro said. This partnership is like adding hundreds of feet to the ground, people who are in place already who can provide feedback in many different areas of the Philippines.

The success of the original pilot program was in large part thanks to the combined efforts of the educational system of Baclayon. The teachers, principals, and school administrators made this effort work. The program itself was incorporated into the school curriculum. Teachers had first hand knowledge of how the bikes were making a difference in the classroom from kids coming to school with completed homework to participating in class with increased energy and enthusiasm.

This project was put together like a classroom assignment and carried out by those who know that best. Now, working hand and hand with the Department of Education when trying to reach a country made of islands, Bikes for the Philippines is poised to reach a greater number of students in many different districts, in turn, hopefully, lowering the drop out rate significantly across the country.

The Department of Education rates a school's performance (as well as an individual teacher's) based on three indicators: National Achievement Test results, liquidation of expenses, and the drop-out rate. Lowering the national drop-out rate has been a concern for DepEd and Bikes for the Philippines. Together they hope to keep kids in school, give them an education, and build stronger communities in all areas of the Philippines.

Students Gear Up For College

Graduates of Baclayon National High School

Congratulations to the first batch of beneficiaries to graduate from Baclayon National High School. Bikes for the Philippines was established to help keep students who live a great distance from school from dropping out by supplying them with transportation to school. Every single fourth year student loaned a bike last year through this program earned it by graduating high school!

Cristy Joy Razo and Eunice Faith Pude

Not only did all the 'seniors' graduate, but two students in the bike program just left for college the weekend of May 25-26 2013. Through the Passerelles numériques(PN) program two of our bike beneficiaries were awarded scholarships to attend the University of San Carlos in Cebu.

Cristy Joy Razo and Eunice Faith Pude, seen here with BNHS Principal Elvira Jabonillo, were both awarded a PN scholarship to attend university and earn a degree in IT. Room, board, and tuition will all be paid for by PN.

Through education, Passerelles numériques enables the most underprivileged young people to access employment in the promising sector of computer technology and break the cycle of poverty within their families.

Cristy Joy Razo

Bikes for the World was founded by Keith Oberg in 2005 after he saw first hand the effects the lack of transportation had on countless families and an entire community. Whether it be for school, work, or heath care, making bikes available to underprivileged people was a high priority.

 Enter Joel Uichico, founder of Bikes for the Philippines. He also saw a need to bring bicycles to the Philippines to not only keep adolescents enrolled in school, but also to bring to them a better way of life. So Oberg and Uichico eventually joined forces to bring to these students affordable (FREE!) bicycles in hopes of keeping them in school, giving them the means to a better education, and giving them hope for the future.

Bikes for the World simply delivered a container of bicycles to a project. It was the educators in the system that delivered an amazing program. And the students just plain delivered. They took an interest in the program, respected the initiative, and gave us exactly the results we were looking for.

Eunice Pude

Eunice Pude received this Magna through the Bikes for Philippines Bikes for Education program early in 2011 in the pilot program introduced in her high school in Baclayon. Students were chosen for the program in part due to their distance from the high school, which officials were noticing played an important part in why the drop out rate was so significant.

Eunice, in fact, probably lived the furthest from the school at 7km, making her round trip commute over 8 miles a day! Despite the rocky terrain and steep hills she had to climb, she mastered the bike and was able to save a ton of time riding to school instead of walking.

Eunice and Cristy Joy...with Joe in the background

Teachers reported students having more energy in class, were better prepared, arrived on time, and stayed more alert throughout the day after receiving their bikes. Some of the quieter students even gained more confidence once they entered the bike program.

Congratulations again to Eunice Pude, Cristy Joy Razo, and all the bike beneficiaries in the Philippines education program. The second project in a neighboring community of Maribojoc is about to launch with bikes already delivered by Bikes for the World. We hope Cristy and Eunice serve as role models to all the students and show them there is room to dream for a bigger future. Many of these students have never left the island of Bohol. Cristy and Eunice are currently in Cebu with the rest of the 2016 class orienting themselves to a new lifestyle, new friends, and brand new plans for their futures.And we hope they decided to take their bikes!

Courtesy PN and Marie Serreau

The Wheels On The Bike Go Round And Round

Wolfie's Bike Train

May is Bike Month. Bike to Work, May 17th. Bike to School, May 8th. And the Vienna Bike/Walk Challenge is ON. This is the fifth year for the challenge amongst Vienna schools. It's a week long challenge (competition, you might say!) where schools encourage students to walk or bike to school.

And Wolftrap Elementary School is up to the challenge, what with their Nickelodeon famous Wolfie's Bike Train and all. This guy, Jeff Anderson, just sets out with his family riding to school and kids come from every corner to join him. It's pretty cool. (And as of Monday, Wolftrap had the most participants in the challenge!)

Anderson came up with a route to school that weaves through the neighborhoods picking up kids along the way. They just wait on the corner as if they are waiting for a bus. But they are on a bike and the bus passes them by. Then Anderson pulls up and moms come running after him to put backpacks and instruments in his trailer he pulls behind. Some of the parents even ride with the group to Wolftrap Elementary.

Today, May 6th, Bikes for the World was invited to ride along with the group. As the region was scattered with rain showers, this message came into the BfW World Headquarters:


630am update.  As of right now the bike train is running today Tuesday.   Weather looks bad later in the day but this AM looks to be cooperative.....  Fingers crossed.

 ...and the ride was on. About 30 bikes ended up in the bike racks today by the time the first bell rang. Some days the racks, donated by Bikes @ Vienna, are filled to capacity.

Kids got a brief introduction to Bikes for the World and a reminder that Wolfie's Bike Train is collecting bikes this week that will be given to people in need all over the world.

Cycling School Bus in the UK

This idea of a pedaling school bus is really catching on. We saw this update from our partner BEN in Namibia where a local German-language secondary school held the first 'cycling school bus' in Namibia  last month in April. The cycling school bus is a simple strategy adopted by many countries worldwide that gets kids to school safely and with a big smile on their faces. They gather at a meeting point near their homes, ride to school, and home again. Older learners can ride by themselves, while younger children can be supported by parents and teachers.

Bikes for the Philippines Education Program

Boys Will Be Boys

3rd year girls from Baclayon National High School, Philippines

Continuing with our focus on girls on bikes...Bikes for the World recently got word from our Philippine partner Bikes for the Philippines Foundation (BfPFI) that when training boys and girls to ride or work on bikes the best practice is often to separate the sexes.

As with other programs we work with, BfPFI was finding many girls who had never ridden a bike before. Many factors contribute to more boys knowing how to ride a bike from time availability to having a bike to ride.

Village Bicycle Project in Ghana was finding even if they gave bikes to girls to ride, their brothers or other males in the village would often steal them for themselves.
 
In the Philippines each selected student is loaned a bicycle for their sole use, thus eliminating that problem. But when Joel Uichico, Director of BfPFI started training the beneficiaries at Baclayon National High School he noticed a distinct difference when training boys and girls together. Both in riding and maintence training some of the boys were picking it up faster than the girls making training them together challenging.

Uichico said the boys were actually making it harder for the girls to learn at their own pace. And some of them would even refuse to mentor the girls to help them along.

 The education model set up by Uichico hand selected beneficiaries who lived great distances from school to receive bikes through the program in order for them to graduate. He started with the older students, training them in safety, skills, and maintenance. Those students would then in turn help mentor the younger students.

What he found was by separating the students by year and then further into boys and girls, the training was much more productive and focused.

Just as we see here in our cycling circles in DC, men and women are often very different, and some women find it intimidating to learn next to guys. That's why you'll see some bike shops offer classes geared specifically toward women. And bike rides for women only. But once they get the hang of it...On Your Left.

When I visited Baclayon I had the opportunity to ride with our student beneficiaries there. Joel and I joked when we stopped to rest and noticed the girls all removing their helmets and then proceeding to brush and fix their hair. Teenaged girls, we said.

But what I didn't appreciate was the teenaged boys. Uichico recently shared a training observation with us, "Sometimes, the boys would want to teach the prettier girls first. This is all understandable owing to the fact that the children are in their younger teens."

Because no matter how you slice it, boys will be boys no matter what language, what culture, what country. The tiny community of Baclayon on the island of Bohol in the Philippines is no different.

To be fair, I saw nothing but cooperation and camaraderie between the students during my visit. Certainly the skill level did separate the riders, a large majority of newbies being girls. But with time and practice this too shall change.

BfW Outreach Coordinator Yvette Hess

Through the rice paddies, muddy single track, steep rocky terrain of Baclayon, congested traffic of Manila...I never heard one complaint from my generous tour guides, be it the students of BNHS, the Bol-anon cyclists, or Athena and Bans, Champion cyclists, that this girl wasn't keeping up with the best of them. And I did most of it with a camera in hand!

It might take us girls a half a second to gain the respect of our male counterparts, but once we do, there's no stopping us. Guys: try to keep up!