Community Garden
Matt Harrison
Why buy a bicycle for just one person when you can round up, say, hundreds and ship them overseas to help entire communities help themselves? That's the question that Seb Oran and her friend Sandra Gattola asked each other when they were looking for ways to support Africans at a grassroots level. That question led to the decision to initiate an Ottawa chapter of Bicycles for Humanity, a project that collects used bicycles and sends them over to Namibia. On arrival, the container of bikes is transported to a community where the bicycles are used by volunteers to support those affected by HIV/AIDS. As Oran points out, more than 60 per cent of the population in Namibia has no access to transportation other than walking, and 23 per cent of the population has HIV/AIDS - most of those afflicted are women.
And make no mistake - this isn't charity. That's a point that Oran makes very, very clear. Instead, she calls it "a hand-up, not a handout."
Bicycles help in a way that Oran calls the "two-three-four principle": "A bicycle can go at least twice as fast, three times as far and can carry up to four times the load of someone walking." This allows the community to take more goods into more areas, which, in turn, generates more income that can be used to help those with HIV/AIDS as well as children who've been orphaned by the disease.
Not only do they recycle our unused bicycles by sending them overseas, but the container that gets shipped is transformed into a bike repair centre (BEC), where
staff in Namibia train locals to fix and maintain the bikes."Bicycles are one of the most affordable means of transportation [in the world] and yet many Africans can't even afford one since they often earn less than a buck a day. It's also sustainable - that's the beauty of it. Once you learn how to fix it, you can use it for many, many years to come."
This fall, Bicycles for Humanity plans to ship a container to Namibia, but to do that they need to raise funds to cover the shipping costs and collect bikes. A benefit concert called Humanity Rocks is being held on Friday, September 14, at Barrymore's. Sponsored in part by FC Capital Soccer Club Mini-World Cup Tournament Series, the benefit features Loudlove, Ana Miura, Jupiter Ray Project, Jeff Meleras, The Polymorphines, and Dr. Lee ($15).
The actual bike collection takes place on Saturday, September 29, at 100 Constellation Crescent in Nepean (Centrepointe neighbourhood) in parking lot "L" from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. They will be collecting adult and youth mountain and hybrid (street) bikes in working condition - no racing bikes or children's bikes please.
