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2000 Report Archives
reports from David Peckham, Project Director
1. February 23- Loading the container, Seattle
2. April 25- Waiting to unload, Accra, Ghana
3. June 18- An ordeal of bicycles
4. July 2000, Tsibu-Bethel, Ghana. A village workshop with discounted
bikes.
5. November: Summary or the project year 2000 |
Loading the first container in a parking lot in Seattle. Here
Bike Works Executive Director Suzanne Carlson hands one
to Dave Peckham. |
1. February 23- Loading the container, Seattle
"I'll hold this one in place while you start closing the door...
looking good,... ok I'll get out of the way and you close it...Quick!"
and so Bike Works and the Village Bicycle Project finished cramming as
many bikes as possible into a 40 by 8 by 8 can, as darkness fell on the
fifth day of loading in Seattle. [by 2003 we were loading in 14
hours]The next morning the container was trucked to the rail yard, then
railed cross-country to New York, to be shipped across the big water
first to Belgium, then re-loaded for Ghana West Africa.
In the can are 364 bikes total, including 135 mountain bikes (50 of
these from the Palouse) an assortment of parts, an adult tri-cycle and
homemade trailer, a hundred old bicycle magazines, and some carpentry
tools that a Seattle soul was moved to contribute. Another man in the
software industry rode up on an almost new $400 bike, which he donated,
along with helmet, gloves, pump and other accessories. He said he'd take
the bus home and "buy a new bike next week."
The endeavor would not have been possible without the help of Bike
Works, who contributed about 225 bikes (we emptied their storage, yard
and attic), innumerable volunteers, staff time and patience. Bike Works
is a non-profit working with kids in a less-privileged neighborhood,
teaching them how to work on bikes. After graduation students can earn
their own bike by working on other bikes. Two graduates are now on
staff, and several interns are looking to make their livelihood in the
bike business.
The pile of bikes arrives in Ghana in mid-April, about a month after I
arrive for preparations. Investors have been contacted, more investors
and importers will be invited to observe the process of me trying to
recover some of the $5,000 in shipping costs. If they think it could be
economically viable, we can locate and ship the bikes from this side
We have made some new contacts in Ghana, through Appropriate Technology
journal, and will be putting a concerted effort into a pilot project to
haul produce to market, using a trailer made in Ghana, and a load
carrying rack from the US, called Xtracycle. A report in the September
1998 edition of AT, documents the problem of village produce being
unable to reach the market town because of inadequate transport. The
town in the study is Kasoa, Ghana, near the headquarters of one of
VBP's partners, Future In Our Hands. FIOH is presently recruiting
`drivers' to operate a market day bicycle shuttle once I get there with
the hardware.
In other big news, the project was awarded a $2000 grant from the
International Bicycle Fund, who host[ed] our website, [until 2004.]
Including the IBF grant we have raised a little more than $4000, and
still need another $2000 to put the project on a sound financial
footing.
I leave on for Ghana on March 10, and have a huge list of people and
organizations to thank, for a truly awesome show of support for this
project.
2. April 25- Waiting to unload, Accra, Ghana
Much of the last month and a half has been spent getting ready to
process a load of 364 bikes that should arrive any day. Recently spent
four lovely days visiting villages that have applied for discounted
bikes. The four villages are all within a day's bike ride from each
other. They are:
Tsibu-Bethel--A farm community with a seven-mile walk to reach the
market with their produce.
Xorla --An earth-friendly ag-forestry collective having a similar
problem accessing the market.
Teachers at Vakpo secondary school who live several miles from the
school and their scattered farm plots.
Tafi-Atome-A village in the middle of several potential tourist sites
who wants to promote tourist access with bikes.
Village Bicycle Project is offering these groups and others a 50%
rebate if their members complete a two-day workshop. The point is that
if you give someone a bicycle, tomorrow when it breaks s/he will need
another bike, but if you teach that one to repair... Rebates can be
taken in tools, parts, bikes or cash.
Other participating groups include a village HIV/AIDS awareness
campaign, a traditional healer his staff and patients, Wheel Power
Christian social and evangelical ministry (30% women) and a teen
bike and bible group, (50% female). We've already started training
teachers in bike repair, so they will be teaching the kids repair in
the bike/bible group. The girls will be taught separately by women to
give them the chance to do it themselves apart from those `take charge'
boys. One of the teachers in training was so proud of herself after
removing and reinstalling a wheel and learning gears that her joy
infected the entire crowd, including a dozen or more orbiting kids.
Again I marvel that a $10 Goodwill bike can be such a delightful medium
for learning basic skills. I'm trying to bring in some local mechanics
as trainers so I can move more quickly into the background.
VBP's position regarding religious groups is that if they meet certain
criteria, like a social agenda or inclusion of women then they will
qualify for our help. Christianity is so pervasive in this secular
state that the lead story on government radio on Easter was the 2000th
anniversary of the resurrection of "Our Savior". Someone told me that
without a church or mosque sponsor, it is nearly impossible to get into
college.
In other news, some of the $1100 in tools I've brought have generated a
lot of interest. Everyone in Accra's bike market remembered me and were
eager to check out the tools. After half a dozen visits, I'm still
being surrounded by people asking about tools, especially the freewheel
removers and chain breakers. Few argue with me about prices anymore,
they know I won't budge and as I tell them, I'm generally 15% of
retail in the US. Its easy to recognize the serious mechanics, they
want to see everything and will spend $10 for a $75 pile of tools.
Checking in with others from last year; Diana my star student has
continued working with the Kiddy Club. "You started it last year, so I
wanted to keep it going" she explained. With no support for bike work
from the lead organization Bike Youth, she shifted the Kiddy Club
activities to AIDS awareness and poetry recitation. As Bike Youth
refused to provide transparency information, our contributions this
year are strictly compensation for services, no donations. They give me
a place to stay and loan me bikes and I give them parts and work with
the kids to fix piles of bikes that have been collecting dust since
they broke down after my last visit.
George attended a village repair workshop last year. He came to visit
and we tinkered with his bike. I asked him if he'd like to learn to
true wheels. "You showed me last year and when I was in Accra I bought
a spoke tool and now I keep my wheels straight.” I was proud. You
know, one bike at a time.
Zooming out to the bigger picture, Ghana's optimism of a year ago has
vanished. Falling export prices and rising costs for imported oil have
meant a plummeting currency and higher prices for everything,
especially imported goods, of which there are many. Still the major
streets are choked with cars, perhaps worse than last year. The sight
of all that fuel idly burning and all that productivity lost stuck in
traffic is particularly maddening in view of the country's economic
fragility. The consumers are cautious and edgy, and the merchants are
worried about higher prices next time they order.
And I'm worried about recovering the $5000 shipping costs for all those
bikes. When I arrived here March 11, a dollar bought 3900 cedis, and
last week it topped 5000. Prices will need to be 20% higher just to
cover devaluation. I'm also fretting about how to handle and count some
5000 notes of Ghana's highest denomination.
So despite our efforts to make bikes more accessible, forces much, much
larger are making it more difficult. Perhaps some of the faltering
middle class will turn to bikes when they realize they can no longer
afford their cars. This may already be happening on a tiny scale. I've
seen several men in suits on bikes this year, but I don't recall seeing
any last year. Any shift to bikes on the scale of Cuba or Holland will
require serious government commitment, but so far there is no sign of
that.
Last but not least, my Village Bicycle Project dream may come true.
Though I probably can't claim credit, a bike repair training center is
being developed in Ghana. The World Bank and Institute for
Transportation and Development Policy plans to repeat ITDP's Afribike
Project in South Africa, which is a variation on hundreds of
Earn-a-bike programs in North America. 750 bikes (2 cans) a year will
be processed, proving skills, jobs, bikes, and opportunities for
Ghana's poor. [June 2002 note: this particular vision has not been
realized]
I've been healthy and plenty warm enough, and have a big, big month
ahead. Write when you can, I will too.
3. June 18- An ordeal of bicycles
I can't say I wasn't warned. Bringing goods into developing countries
usually involves enormous bureaucratic hassles. My local host who
promised to take the lead didn't. Two days before the container was due
to arrive I learned that it had actually docked eight days earlier.
Procedural delays would cost $26 a day in demurrage fees. I hoped that
the agent I hired who worked for a large shipping company would be
honest. Several times he needed money off the record to get officials I
never met to cooperate. I made numerous trips across the far reaches of
Greater Accra to receive conflicting reports about the paperwork I
would need. For ten days I was promised "tomorrow or the next day."
People who had committed to help couldn't wait any longer. When the
container finally cleared on May 13 I remained skeptical until the
goods actually left the port.
I was not allowed to use my own people to empty the container. I was
advised that the harbor crews were petty thieves, and that guards were
necessary even within the secured port area. The unloading crew heaved
bikes into damaging piles, passersby jostled to do business. A
uniformed official of the Ghana Port Harbour Authority harassed me for
a long time for a bike and finally stole it when I wasn't watching. Two
more of the best bikes were lost to payoffs. I fought hard to keep my
cool, and my only rescue was to put down my clipboard and help move
bikes.
The nightmare was just beginning. A huge truck piled high with bicycles
rolled into the gritty suburban slum of Teshie and stopped in front of
the rickety corral-style fence of the Anne-Marie International School.
A crowd of several hundred gathered to watch and join in the unloading
and staging of 360 bicycles.
All those donated bikes, filling 1000 square feet of the schoolyard,
made for an intoxicating display of wealth and excess. The crowd
pressed towards a mob. It was a bargain hunt at my expense. I was
besieged by buyers, many responding to my price with "I beg you, reduce
small.” They would counter my price with an offer a few dollars lower
and wait me out, up to a dozen people at a time, pleading, begging,
whining, playful, angry. They told me of their hardships, flaws with
the bike, reminded me of what great friends they were, how I owed them
or similar. In a land where minimum wage is 60 cents a day, hounding me
for an hour to save a dollar was a good investment. Time was completely
on their side. They berated me, but later would congratulate me for
being "strong." Serious intrigues were underway in unknown languages.
The trucker, who was of great help, was ridiculed for rescuing the
white man. Nuru replied, "He can help us, if we cheat him he won't come
back."
They said I was wild. I tried to remain calm, firm and fair. But I lost
it a number of times, falling into fits of yelling. That night our
friends the guards, I was told later, sent 14 bikes over the fence.
Late into the second afternoon strangers were whispering to me through
the fence; "beware of your friends," "young men are planning to storm
the fence tonight and take what they want." At five o'clock I didn't
think we could possibly fit the remaining bikes into a small enclosed
storage room before nightfall. Somehow we did, saving 80 bikes for the
programs.
When all the surplus bikes were gone there was little sympathy for my
suffering or my losses, probably totaling $1500. "When is your next
consignment coming?" they ask. "NEVER!" I shout with a demented mix of
anger and satisfaction. Up to 30 bikes in all were said to have been
stolen.
Lessons learned? Put more energy into the human resources. I know there
are honest people here, finding them is a bigger task than I thought.
Never ever attempt to store goods in the open; it is too tempting. As
much as I hated it, why shouldn't they take advantage of this affluent
and obviously stupid outsider? These powerless people are regularly
pinched, robbed and humiliated by those in power, their leaders.
Finally, remove myself from the retailing process, send bikes, don't
bring them. I'm working on a number of possibilities.
Other things I'm trying to keep in mind are that some people got a very
good deal on sensible transport, the market price has been softened at
least a tiny bit, and people want bikes!
It has been a month since the ordeal and I still bristle when someone
asks if I have any bikes for sale, followed by "I beg you!"
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4. July 2000, Tsibu-Bethel, Ghana. A village workshop with
discounted bikes.
|
The first workshop for discounted bikes, at
Tsibu–Bethel, Ghana |
The first village bicycle project took place in a small farming village
two miles from the main road and seven miles from the market, where
they trade their produce for fish and other goods from outside. The
village Tsibu-Bethel would buy six bikes at the regular price and if
twelve people completed a two-day riding and repair workshop they would
get six more bikes and tools at no charge.
There were about fifteen trainees, more then half of them women. Most
of the women had never biked before, and spoke little English. Three of
us worked the training; me, Babbs a Ghanaian bike mechanic I met last
year, and Taara a volunteer from New York. Babbs had already shown that
he was a good teacher, and an accomplished mechanic in the Ghana style,
and an invaluable translator. Taara was the Training Wheel, helping the
women learn to ride. Both Babbs and Taara had accompanied me on an
earlier site visit, so all three of us were familiar faces.
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Taara Chandani, volunteer from US, helps a
woman pump a tire at the Tsibu-Bethel workshop.
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With Babbs as lead trainer, I took a lower profile and could more
thoroughly prepare and pick up loose ends. One thing that needed doing
was to remind the zealous that everyone should have a chance to do each
of the repair tasks themselves. Without intervention, the most skilled
men would have grabbed the tools and done all the repairs themselves,
leaving the women and others as spectators, not participants. I was
able to find more advanced repairs for those with the knack.
All in all it went very well. Their enthusiasm was contagious, and
everyone eagerly approached the tasks at hand.
We had similar projects with other groups, doubling bikes and donating
tools upon completion of workshops. These included Vakpo Secondary
School teachers and staff, Domsec Traditional Healing Center, Pro-Link
HIV/AIDS awareness outreach team, and the Ann Marie International
School Bike and Bible Club. None were quite as on-target as
Tsibu-Bethel, where we worked directly with rural farmers.
Several themes came out of the workshops. It became very clear that
this was a unique opportunity for them to become acquainted with their
bikes and to de-mystify the repair and maintenance process. Few would
have bothered to participate if the workshop had been optional, but
most of them became thoroughly involved. I had originally intended to
sell tools at about half price, but tools are so crucial to
self-reliance, so remarkably unavailable, and beyond budget. So the
tools were awarded collectively, despite the risks of commandeering and
pilferage.
I was lucky enough to get to share the repair workshop model at a
workshop in June with representatives from the World Bank, and two
private non-profits who are doing development work with bikes elsewhere
in Africa. We are now working on proposals to incorporate the VBP
training model in some other programs. More on that as it unfolds.
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5. November: SUMMARY OF the PROJECT YEAR 2000
There were three major components of VBP 2000
1. supplying bikes and bicycle parts to Africans in need of reliable
transportation,
2. providing bikes and training to specific groups, especially farmers
and health workers, and
3. introducing specialized tools to the established bike market. (link
tools story)
FIRST ONE
We successfully collected and shipped 364 used bikes (in a single cargo
container from Seattle to Ghana) where most were chaotically
distributed, recovering about 80% of the costs of shipping and
clearing.
SECOND
We reserved 80 bikes for special programs with specifically targeted
groups in Ghana, most of whom received discount-priced bikes and free
tools upon completion of a two-day repair workshop. Recipient groups
included:
---The farming villages of Danchira and Tsibu-Bethel, where the bikes
will help farmers get from the village to their farms, and to market,
in situations where reliable public transportation is rare at best.
---The Pro-Link HIV/AIDS education group in Hohoe, for health workers
to carry out programs in neighboring villages.
---The Domsec Traditional Healers, near Hohoe, to visit patients in
their homes, travel to the bush to collect medicinal plants, and run
errands in town.
---The teachers and staff at Vakpo Secondary School. The bikes help
teachers get to school (located two miles from the center of town), and
their farm plots which supplement their meager government salaries.
---The Youth Hope and International Exchange, a vocational training
group in a poor neighborhood of Accra to develop bike mechanic
coursework.
---The Wheel Power Christian Cyclists, for their transportation to do
evangelical and social work in the town of Kasoa and neighboring
villages.
The workshops were a smash hit, demystifying the repair and maintenance
process, enabling riders to familiarize themselves with the machine in a
way they never would have been able to do on their own. The donation of
tools was crucial, because they are practically non-existent in the
village settings, and of course, because tools are vital to doing any
repairs. These cyclists should enjoy better performance and longevity
from their bikes, as well as lower repair costs, all of which will make
bike transport more practical for all.
THIRD
We delivered about $1100 in specialized bike repair tools to the
central bicycle market in Accra, selling them at less than half-price
to mechanics and distributors. We wanted to learn the market response
to the tools, so that we could test the feasibility of commercial
suppliers stepping in to meet this need. While the tools were indeed
very popular with the mechanics, tool importers have so far been
discouraged by a weakening economy. We continue the search for a
private sector solution to this problem.
This was the second year of the project, and the first year that the
project was really operational. In the general sense we actually
accomplished what we set out to do, and have learned a lot, much of it
the hard way. We've made important contacts with people and
institutions in Africa who support the project and wish to contribute
to its continued success.
Here is an analysis of our seven goals from the beginning of the
year:
1.Recycle Bikes From the USA. Recycling discarded but useable bikes,
diverting them from the American waste stream to a new useful life in
Africa. In February 2000 we collected and shipped 364 bikes to Ghana.
Some were sold to offset shipping costs, others used in VBP programs
with Ghanaian partner groups.
---Enduring an ordeal, learned several painful lessons on how to
process a shipment of bikes.
2. Bike Repair Training. Holding classes for people to learn bike
repair skills, with opportunities to earn bikes and tools. Emphasis
will be on youth, women, and training of teachers.
---Developed a prototype program, two-days, half-price bikes, include
a free tool set
3. Adequate Tools. Providing specialized bike tools for mechanics
and parts dealers. Many mechanics don't know that specialized tools
exist, and rely on hammer and chisel to remove and install parts. We
will also engage metal workers to produce tools locally.
---A growing interest in tools, Was unable to jump-start tools
making
4. Farm-to-Market TransportAs markets centralize throughout Africa,
public transport is not keeping up with increased demand, leaving
village growers stranded on market day. VBP works with a domestic
trailer, bicyclists, metal workers and merchants in need to connect
villages to market with bikes and trailers.
---Studied some earlier failures in trailer development, unable to
connect with metalworkers
5. Sustainability. Developing the long-term contacts for local
self-sustaining programs. Connect Ghana's bike industry with importers
and credit sources.
6. Provide organizational development assistance for Ghanaian
non-profit bike advocacy groups. Pursue creation of ongoing bike
mechanics training programs.
---Dissappointed in the non-profit bike advocacy groups
7. Pro-Bike Public Policy. Foster dialogue between Ghanaian
decision-makers and western pro-bike transportation experts to improve
conditions for bicycling, including roadways, education, enforcement,
and economics.
---No time for this
In retrospect, a lot of things I had hoped to accomplish did not pan
out in 2000. However, momentum had been built in several areas. We
had working model for a workshop that was delivering bikes to rural
people, the tools were well received, and hard lessons were learned
from the first container of bikes. We had enough invested on the
learning curve and enough successes to continue.
LOOKING AHEAD
We want to provide follow-up support for the projects of VBP 2000 that
have made progress on their own. We would like to provide them
additional training, bikes, and parts, and travel to the capital to
show them how to find the parts they need.
We would also like to bring bikes and repair training to orphanages and
to street children rescue programs in the capital, Accra. Children from
the ages of about 10 to 14 have an innate interest in machines like
bicycles. Repair training could make a huge difference for some of
these profoundly disadvantaged children.
We hope to offer additional bicycle repair workshops for farmers and
other select groups, especially women, who need effective
transportation for themselves and their crops.
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