Today, I’d like to talk about the work of Pedal Power, a small charity based mainly in the UK. I’ll be giving our contact details at the end, if anyone would like to find out more about how to support us.
But first, how the charity began. I got the idea of exporting bicycles to developing countries while I was in Ecuador. I went there in 2001 just after graduating from university. After three years of studying, I wanted adventure. I loved traveling, so I decided to join a voluntary organization and was sent to Ecuador to carry out land surveys. The projects came to an end after five years and when I returned to the UK in 2006. I started planning Pedal Power.
Where I lived in Ecuador was a very rural area. My neighbor had the only bicycle in the village, whereas everyone else walked everywhere. My neighbor;s business was usually successful, and for years I couldn’t understand why. Then I realize having a bike meant be could get where he wanted to go without much trouble. Other local carpenters could only accept jobs in a three-kilometer radius, so no matter how skilled they were, they could never do as many jobs as my neighbor.
At Pedal Power, we collect second-hand bikes in the UK and send them to some of the poorest regions in the world. When we distribute bikes overseas we don’t give them away for free. We’d like to, but long term that doesn’t really help the local economy. The demand for bikes as enormous, which makes them very expensive locally. So we sell them for 5% of the normal price. But in order to continue operating we need to have a constant supply of bikes which we send out every six months.
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