Day 7: A Bicycle to get to School

Today, I found a charity that gives new bicycles to children in Zambia, in order to get to school. It is really hard for children in Zambia to receive a proper education. Families in Zambia have to deal with economic hardship, the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS, and an increasing population of orphans. It makes it even more difficult for these children to receive an education when they have to walk three hours to go to school. This three hour walk in a poverty-filled country like Zambia can mean harassment, sexual abuse or exhaustion. According to The Literacy Site (the donation site), "Girls in particular spend more time working to support their families than any other Zambian demographic, collecting fuel, hauling water, caring for siblings, and supporting household businesses. As a result, they often drop out of school altogether. For Zambian girls, being unable to complete secondary education is disastrous — linked to early marriages, early childbearing, extreme poverty, increased infant mortality, and shorter life expectancy." Clearly, life isn't easy in Zambia, and the hardships aren't just limited to girls.

However, there is (sort of) a solution to the transportation problem for the children of Zambia. The following excerpt is a continuation of the same article in which I received the last quote: "A simple solution allows children to travel to school swiftly, safely, and with less fatigue: a bicycle. A typical child's two- to three-hour walk is reduced by a bicycle to a ride of just forty-five to seventy-five minutes, leaving the child less vulnerable to attack en route and also with more time and energy for schoolwork and household chores. The bicycle is also an asset to the family, improving access to markets and healthcare and enhancing the perceived value of the child's education." Even though this is still difficult for the child, a bicycle gives a Zambian family a huge break.

Last year, I went on a class trip to Costa Rica with my school. While we were there, we learned a lot about the agriculture in Costa Rica. We visited a coffee plantation, where we learned how they naturally grind the coffee beans. We were given the privilege of listening to the man's stories. One of his stories was very similar to (what I imagine) a child's story that benefited from this cause (would be like). He said that he had to walk 3-4 hours every day to go to his school. He was given a bike as well, and this allowed him to get to school with ease, and his family benefited/depended on this new way of transportation. Costa Rica is a much more developed country than Zambia, so you could imagine that the people living in a third-world country like Zambia without transportation must be very poor. A bike means a lot to these families, so I'm sure that a donation would be greatly appreciated.

This donation helps fund the purchase, assembly, and delivery of a sturdy new bicycle, and contributes to training and equipping a local bicycle mechanic so that the magic doesn't disappear with the first flat tire. You can either donate $14 to help buy a bicycle, or you can donate $134 to pay for an entire bicycle. Please consider donating. To go the donation website, please click here. Thanks!