Bikes for Africa is a scheme working with a three organizations in the Mpumulunga province of South Africa. These organizations provide aid and assistance to feeding programs and missionaries over a large area, including the Mozambique and Swaziland borders.

The three organizations we will be distributing bikes to are;

Makhundu Christian Support which runs a voluntary feeding scheme for 2000 aids orphans. They supply food to children in eight villages, as well as, blankets and clothes, and as part of their function they work with the villages insisting that these children attend school. With bikes they could, not only get to and from school and the clinic, but use them to carry fire wood and water back to their homes. It will also bring a little fun into their lives.

The two rural based missionaries we are working with will distribute bikes not only to young people going out to work, who would benefit because of their remote locations, but also to the care workers who visit the sick. In these areas they have to walk many miles every day to reach their patients. With bikes they can visit more people on a daily basis, and spend more time with their patients.

Many of the orphans are refugees. The Aids epidemic is rife in the area, and many of the children, who have no uncles, aunts or grandparents, have nursed their parents and sadly buried them. Because they have no money they cannot afford a proper burial, so they have no death certificates, which means they cannot apply for a government grant.

Some of these children, no older than 12 years of age, are responsible for their younger brothers and sisters. They go to school, returning home in the afternoon to gather wood, fetch water, cook a meal, wash clothes and get breakfast ready for the family in the morning, before setting off for school again.

The houses these children call home have no water, no electricity, no drainage or rubbish disposal, they often have no or little furniture, and their homes are built mostly of mud and rusty tin sheets.

Some of these children abandon their education in favor of working, but there are very few jobs and as a result they often have to travel long distances to the work they can get. They sometimes use taxis because of the distance, but these aren’t like taxis in the USA or UK, they are mini buses, which get packed with as many people as possible, and are often not safe to be driven on the roads. And of course this costs money - precious wages are being spent on just getting to and from work.

We are looking for any bikes from around age 8, upwards, including adult bikes. They will be transported by sea in a large container, delivered to the St Vincent de Paul Society in Neltspruit, where they will be stored, checked over and then distributed to their new owners. We do ask that the bicycles are in working order.

We really are looking for as many bikes as possible. If you have bikes you no longer use in a shed or garage at home, they would be gratefully received. If you don’t have a bike, but would still like to make a donation, we will also be sending bicycle pumps and repair kits.

Contact one of our teams in either the USA or UK if you have a bike or bikes to donate.

Bikes for Africa USA
bikesforafrica@gmail.com

Bikes for Africa UK
jane_rooke@yahoo.co.uk

If we look at the lives we have, and the things we take for granted - food, clothing, a loving family, and the more mundane things we probably don’t even think about on a day-to-day basis - sanitation, clean water, electricity and heating, it is hard even to image what these children’s lives are like. They have absolutely nothing unless it is donated to them by the missionaries and aid programs in the area.

Your bike can make a huge difference to the life of a child and a family in South Africa.

Thank you.