Village Bicycle Project

I mentioned in my last blog entry that I have a few potential projects coming down the line. Today, I sent in the application to have Village Bicycle Project come to Bormase.

Yesterday, Patrick and I held meetings in Bormase Tenya, Bormase Dorse and Bormase Sibrino (I think that only Bormase is spelled correctly). Officially, all three communities are my "site" but it took 30 minutes to walk to Dorse and over an hour to walk to Sibrino.

The meetings were held in as a means to convey the objective of Village Bicycle Project. The US based company provides used bicycles to Peace Corps villages at prices that are below market rate. Customers are required to attend an eight hour information session before leaving with their new bicycle. This information session includes practical lessons on how to properly maintain a bicycle.

The first meeting started at 7am and ended with more than 70 people having signed up. The LONG day ended at 4pm and had 130 people signed up. Patrick was able to translate everything and was also willing to tell Dorse and Sibrino attendees about Moringa and the other projects that we have going in Bormase.

It remains to be seen how many people will follow through and pay (in advance) for the bicycles. Initial news form VBP is that they won't likely deliver bicycles until just before I leave Ghana but I'll be ecstatic if this project is competed successfully. As things stand now, maybe a dozen people in the vicinity of my house own their own bicycle. When I first brought my own bike home, I was getting daily requests from potential borrowers. Occasionally, I would lend my bike but recently, a neighbor (the same on who hit his brother with a cutlass) returned the bike with a terribly bent seat.

As I prepared to go speak with Lahweh (it's a common name for a male twin) about his use of my bicycle, I learned that the bicycle was less damaged of the two travelers. Lahweh had flipped over the handlebars and knocked out one of his front teeth. It seems that he knows not to be careless with a bicycle.

Other projects are still in the works but I'll give news on those later.

Love to all
Ira