Mobility for ALL!!
I was approached by a Germany girl who introduced herself as a ‘fan’ who is volunteering here in Uganda; with a cup full of enthusiasm she said “I only just found out about you guys the other day!” What you do is Awesome! “You should let people know what you do; it’s amazing”. Do you have a website?” I explained that we do and it is still under development. The ‘fan’ said that she thinks lots of people would be interested to know what we do and they would be more than happy to get involved in one way or the other and help reach out to more people. The energy and enthusiasm she had spread a huge smile on my face.
Yes, CA Bikes Uganda has spread its wings way larger than the initial “Pedal or Power Project.” They talk about CA Bikes on local radio stations, the politicians and government officials mentioned it in the parliament of Uganda and many people seem to be pretty excited about what we do; which is super encouraging. Keep us in your prayers and support to keep our focus.
Here is what we have been up to it the month of September.
Bike Distribution
This has been very exciting month for many reasons among those are the bicycles give out. We have given up to forty bikes and hope to make it to may be 100 by the end of this year. We have about 200 new applicants on the waiting list for new bikes or wheelchairs. I can tell you for sure nothing feels gratifying like smiles on these young men’s faces after receiving a new bike. I do feel that joy up close and personal for I was once in those shoes. I will write up some stories of some these kids; they are amazing. Some of the stories are just too sad and hard to believe. For now it’s just the excitement. NO Sad storiesJ!
Bike Production
We have assembled a number of bicycles of different types and as depicted from the above pictures distribution is an ongoing everyday activity. After carrying out a thorough investigation and assessment we give out bicycles to the competent and most deserving kids.
Machine Shop:
We have successfully acquired basic tools to have a simple bicycle frame-building machine shop to produce: Bicycles, wheelchairs, and other forms of tricycles to meet most poor family mobility needs. Here is a list of tools we have in our machine shop.
A Grinder, a bender, welding machine, a system of brazing equipment(i.e. gas tanks and the pipe lines) vice, Hack saw, hammer and other small but useful tools.
Power grinder Pipe bender Welding machine
Vice Brazing system
With the help of the above tools we have so far produced four distinct bicycle types from used pipes, water pipes and/or sheet metal.
Here are some locally make CA Bikes from either water pipes or scrap metal
1. CA Load Carrier:
This is one of a kind type of bicycle targeting to help the poor especially farmers in transporting their produce to the market to help better their lives.
2. CA Tri-Bike
In my July letter home I briefly mentioned the high need for wheel chairs in this region. Am happy to announce that we have successfully produced a one of a kind cost effective prototype wheelchair ready for mass production. We make them out of water pipes and a few purchased spare parts. This tri-cycle is built from the least amount of materials possible to keep it light weight and most important cheap to produce. The production cost is one fourth of a typical wheel chair on the US market
This bike targets people with disabilities from disadvantaged social and economic backgrounds in Uganda and the surrounding regions. This bike’s distinct features make it perfect for East Africa’s terrain and most important it’s easy to use for the recipient.
It has a head lamp powered by a little dynamo meant to help with light for long distance commuters on their way home in the dark.
Its high profile tires make it suitable for the rough roads.
We also designed it with two pulleys and a gear system that will ease the user’s work going uphill something that has never been done before.
Fig: CA Tri-Bike
As you already know or can imagine, importing wheelchairs to any African country has a lot of down sides.... there is a lack of back-up service and spares are often hard to obtain. Who will fit them? What should the families pay, if anything? Who will maintain the equipment when it breaks? How will people afford spare parts? How will they replace old equipment? What equipment is better and suited to last on these muddy, rutted, unpaved roads?
To overcome this, CA Bikes recruited and trained local people, and locally available materials to provide a durable solution for disabled people in Africa starting here in Uganda with future plans of supplying most African countries.
The need for wheelchairs and tricycles is enormous. However, most of the applicants who come to CA Bikes offices are from a poor Socio Economic background and cannot afford to purchase them.
CA bikes hopes to produces and distribute these chairs to the needy for free which will allow them to cover longer distances and also operate small-scale business’ to empower them Economically thus reducing their dependency level and most important beggars on the streets.
Objectives of CA Tri-Bike products:
ü To Economically empower people with disabilities
ü To Lobby Government and Charitable organisations to implement policies and influence donor approaches in favor of People with disabilities
ü To produce wheelchairs locally at CA Bikes workshop and distribute them for free or at affordable rates to people in need or organization with the similar interests.
3. CA LadyBird
One of the biggest challenges of CA Bikes is to ensure gender balance among CA Bikes recipient due to social stigma of women riding bicycles. “Mobility for all” having been the main focus for CA Bikes we would like to ensure gender equality.
For women in America, the initial struggle was for the right to ride a bicycle at all; this debate lasted until the early 1890s. From the beginning, there was a significant facet of society who firmly believed that machinery and cycling activity should remain part of a man’s world and that a woman’s world should remain distinct and separate. Those types of thinking still exist in most parts of Uganda.
Since Uganda is traditionally a conservative country, there are many Questions surrounding the issue of women on bicycles. Women wearing pants is kind of still frown upon-- in that they are supposed to wear below the knee long skirts which makes it hard to hop on a bicycle. Many people in this society are convinced that bicycle riding threatens women’s cultural norms, physical and mental health for instance their hair, complexions, femininity, families, morals and worst of all, their reputation. Not many women want to be seen on a bicycle.
But with the help of the new CA LadyBird bicycle we will be able to sensitize, educate, and improve mobility for women starting with young girls in school gearing toward women enjoying the full luxury of riding a bicycle.
CA LadyBird is designed and built neatly from scrap pipes en a few bought spare parts bringing back the idea of “step-through” bicycles. It has a tube that slopes way down, instead of going straight across. They are also designed to have a shorter reach, and are easier to mount or dismount
