On Saturday July 18th, Bikes Not Bombs volunteers will load a 40' shipping container full of bicycle aid to send to the Village Bicycle Project in Ghana.

A woman test rides her new bike after a VBP workshop in Piina, Ghana, March '09. Photo by VBP.

We start at 10:00 am (bagels and coffee provided) and work until we finish, which we expect to be 3:30 or 4:00pm. 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! We do expect some rain in the morning but we back the truck up close to the warehouse and use a tarp, so the rain won't stop this train!

The Village Bicycle Project (VBP) is based in the capital, Accra, where they will wholesale part of the shipment to 20-30 local small bike businesses. VBP trainers then take the remaining bikes to small villages around the country to do workshops in basic bike maintenance; people who complete the workshop can buy a bike for 1/2 price. The more active economy of the capital subsidizes bringing bikes affordably to small villages. See the VBP website at www.ghanabikes.org.

A Peace Corps volunteer from the village of Piina in the north of Ghana helped facilitate a week of workshops by the VBP that were attended by 100 women in March 2009. He writes, "There was a tremendous response to VBP and people are continually asking me for more information. One woman said that because of her bicycle she was able to ride out in the middle of the night to get a relative with a motorbike to rush her child to the hospital. Without the bicycle things would have ended differently for her son."

VBP bike maintenance workshop for women in Piina, Ghana, March '09. Photo by VBP.

See photos from these workshops in Piina at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thuyle1020/VillageBicycleProject?authkey=Gv1...




Also, you can see a short video online about bikes from BNB going to the VBP (this video is some years old, and was made when BNB was at our old location), see http://current.com/items/76310502_village-bicycle-project.htm

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 Stony Brook 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 Stony Brook 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.

Women with new maintenance knowledge take their bikes home in Piina, Ghana, March '09. Photo by VBP.