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What is
Cycle Aid for Africa?
Cycle Aid for Africa is a hugely successful Education Africa project that distributes bicycles to under-resourced schoolchildren who have to travel enormous distances to attend school every day.
The project was launched on 20 March 1997 by then Deputy-President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki.
Speaking at the launch, he described Cycle Aid for Africa as a project that represents a “practical way in which we seek to empower communities in their quest for a better education”.
 Our bicycles have changed the lives of learners who have to travel vast distances to attend school |
 Bicycles are distributed to schools and stored in a container for safe-keeping while the learners attend classes. |
Background to the project
The project was first started with the assistance of the Osaka Prefectural Government in Japan, the University of Pretoria, NOCSA (National Olympic Committee of South
Africa) and the Japanese Embassy. The Osaka Prefectural Government assisted with an initial donation to Education Africa of thousands of bicycles that had been abandoned and discarded in the Osaka Prefectural cities. The Japanese Embassy funded the transportation of the bicycles to Education Africa in South Africa for distribution. Education Africa has moved forward with Cycle Aid for Africa, taking it to a new level. We now use locally manufactured mountain bikes which are more hardy and durable, allowing us to deliver far better bicycles to schoolchildren in need.
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Education Africa partner schools
Education Africa resourced partner schools:
- identify the under-resourced schools where the bicycles will be used;
- host the bicycle workshops; and
- teach learners how to monitor and service bicycles. They, in turn, work with the learners from the under-resourced schools to maintain the donated bicycles on a continued, long-term basis.
The partner schools are well equipped from the workshops to provide continual follow-up to the underresourced schools in terms of the maintenance and correct use of the bicycles. This process encourages a constant communication between the resourced and under-resourced schools which, in turn, builds a community and encourages dialogue and the sharing of skills and resources.
A good example of the process is our partner school, Kearsney College in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Through two of its outreach schools, its learners have learnt to maintain and service their bicycles.
They then work with the learners from the under-resourced schools in maintaining their bicycles. As well as the sharing of resources and skills between resourced and under-resourced schools, this also allows for an interaction between the children, which facilitates tolerance and learning about each other’s backgrounds. Learners from resourced schools thus become aware of the hardships learners from underresourced environments endure, such as their difficulty in accessing the most basic transport (a luxury which we take for granted) to and from school every day.
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Cycle Aid for Africa Workshops
A programme of distribution, maintenance and monitoring is required in order to ensure the durability and success of the bicycles. Education Africa sub-contracts local bicycle distributors to help run necessary training workshops for this purpose.
The workshops are conducted for several young learners from the Education Africa resourced partner schools. Learners are taught the theory of bicycle maintenance and then apply the theory by repairing a bicycle, taking turns to fix a tyre or the brakes, etc. These learners then go on to share what they have learnt with the learners from the under-resourced schools to which the bicycles are donated. This assistance is ongoing.
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Conclusion
Many children who attend under-resourced schools in impoverished communities come from rural areas, and have to walk for hours every day just to get to school and back. When they arrive at school they are already tired, which naturally affects their scholastic performance.
Cycle Aid for Africa has improved the quality of life of many of these disadvantaged children. They now arrive at school on time, and their concentration and educational performances are improving.
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Hlahlindlela High School in KwaZulu Natal is the latest school to receive bicycles through Education Africa's Cycle Aid for Africa project
Even the rain could not dampen the spirits of the learners of Hlahlindlela High School on 9 November as a delegation from Education Africa travelled to Kwa-Zulu Natal's Valley of a Thousand Hills for the official hand-over of 50 bicycles. These bicycles are part of the Education Africa Cycle Aid for Africa project which aims at distributing bicycles to disadvantaged schools to enable learners, who frequently have to walk vast distances (and in this case, many hills!) in order to attend school.
The bicycles are allocated to learners as part of an incentive scheme for good school results. They remain the property of the school provided they are well looked after and maintained. Schools who are allocated bicycles are also given a lock-up container in which they bicycles can be safely stored, as well as helmets and a maintenance kit. Experience has shown that learners who are relieved of the burden of having to walk long distances to attend school are more attentive, more focused and produce better results.
Also present at the hand-over were representatives from Kearsney College who is Education Africa's partner on this particular project. Learners from Kearsney will come to Hlahlindlela High School to help train the teachers and learners on bicycle maintenance and bicycle safety.
Mr Kim Johnson of Johnson Cycle Works also attended the hand-over, and he was delighted to see the joy on the faces of the learners as they saw the custom-made bikes which he has specifically produced for the Cycle Aid for Africa project. The bikes are reinforced to make them more durable and they feature solid tyres to ensure that there can be no punctures.
A wonderful day was had by all as we were treated to song, dance and poetry recitals by the learners, as well as some wonderful refreshments. We left Hlahlindlela High School with the assurance from both the Headmaster and a member of the School Council that these bicycles are going to change the lives of their learners.
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Education Africa's Cycle Aid for Africa project gets the 'thumbs up' from excited learners at Hlahlindlela High School.
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Hlahlindlela High School learners proudly show off the new bicycles which have been distributed to the school as part of Education Africa's Cycle Aid for Africa project. Also pictured are (from left) Hlahlindlela's headmaster, Mr BP Masango, James Urdang from Education Africa, Joy Mills-Hackmann from Kearsney College, Kim Johnson from Johnson Cycle Works and Manzini Zungu from Kearsney College.
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