On Sunday October 26th Bikes Not Bombs volunteers will load a 40' shipping container full of bicycle aid for the Global Alliance for Africa's Vijana Center in Tanzania. We start at 10:30 am and work until we finish, which we expect to be 3:30 or 4:00pm. Thanks to City Feed and Supply and Equal Exchange for donating coffee (in partnership). We'll take a break around 1pm for a pizza lunch (provided) and a short talk about the project. Volunteers can come for any part of this time that works for you. Experience not required. We'll be moving, sorting, and loading bikes, wheels, and spare parts. You may wish to bring work gloves.

This event happens RAIN or SHINE. The container backs up very close to the warehouse we load out of, so rain is not a big problem.

Bikes Not Bombs provided one free container shipment of 441 bikes on April 14, 2008 to the Global Alliance for Africa’s Vijana Center, which is located in Arusha, Tanzania. This will be our second shipment of donated bicycles. The Vijana Center is a vocational training project that serves 200 AIDs-affected youth students, primarily orphans. Language courses in English, French and Spanish are offered (to help students get jobs in Tanzania's tourism industry), as well as computer skills, secretarial skills, welding and bike mechanics. 90% of the center’s budget is derived from the sale of used bikes assembled at the Center.

Some of you met Bernard Kiwia and Shaibu Laizer, two of the staff of the Vijana Center, when they visited BNB this summer. They were in Boston for the International Development Design Summit (IDDS) at MIT, which is brought together 60 engineers from 20 developing countries around the world, to share techniques and take on design challenges to come up with new designs to address problems in each other's countries. (The IDDS will be happening in Ghana in 2009!) Bernard and Shaibu also worked at the BNB Bike Shop and helped teach in Earn-A-Bike during their stay in Boston in order to learn more about BNB's programs and educational model.

Directions

This event does NOT happen at Bikes Not Bombs, but is just around the corner. We will be loading from a big parking lot at 179 Boylston St., Jamaica Plain, 2 blocks from the StonyBrook T stop on the Orange Line. Coming from the BNB HUB at 284 Amory Street, turn right on Amory. At the first traffic light turn right on Boylston Street (where the StonyBrook T stop is on your left) and then turn right into a large parking lot which is part of the Brewery Complex. You'll see our 40 ft. shipping container parked in this lot, just off the street.