New Partnership Brings Mobility to Africa
In Africa, girls are 70 percent more likely to attend school if their family owns a bike. Healthcare workers can visit up to four times as many patients if they have a bike and people with bikes can travel five times as fast as they can on foot. Poor transportation means poor access to healthcare, economic and education opportunities. Simply put: bicycles can change a life. ExperiencePlus! Bicycles Tours is excited to begin a partnership with a non-profit that is working to address the lack of mobility in Africa.
Bicycles for Humanity-Colorado (B4H) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization solving the lack of mobility which is a leading impediment to development and access to critical healthcare services. By providing donated used bicycles to rural African healthcare professionals, B4H dramatically increases the volume and breadth of healthcare services.
Based in Colorado, Bicycles for Humanity has distributed more than 800 used bikes in Namibia. And now, with ExperiencePlus!, B4H hopes to make a difference in the lives of even more Africans.
ExperiencePlus! is excited to lend a hand in a few ways. First, the company will donate $100 to B4H or every person who books the epic, 45-day Eastern European tour from St. Petersburg to Istanbul, scheduled to run August 4 – September 18, 2010. Secondly, we are hoping our travelers will chose to donate $10 to Bicycles 4 Humanity when they make a reservation instead of receiving an ExperiencePlus! complimentary gift with their tour.
“We’re delighted to partner with ExperiencePlus! Bicycle Tours given their bicycling focus and global mindset,” said Joshua Pace, president of Bicycles for Humanity Colorado. “Together we can provide the gift of mobility to hundreds of rural Namibians over the coming year.” By partnering with local communities and organizations like the Peace Corps, Bicycles for Humanity is creating locally run bike shops that are self sustaining, profitable and will improve the transportation needs not simply through the initial donation of bicycles.
“We’re very pleased to support a local, yet global reaching non-profit which is also bike related,” said Maria Elena Price, co-owner of ExperiencePlus! Bicycle Tours. Price and her sister and fellow co-owner, Monica Price, have both studied, traveled and bicycled throughout the world and strongly believe in the value of increasing mobility and exposure beyond one’s borders.
The combined proceeds are expected to raise between $1,500 and $2,000 a year for Bicycles for Humanity-Colorado.
“These funds will help us open our third Namibian community bike shop in the rural town of Katima. Donated bikes enable healthcare workers to travel deeper into the bush delivering critical medications on a consistent basis,” said Pace. Located 1,000 kilometers from the capital Windhoek, Katima is a remote town with limited healthcare facilities and high HIV infection rates. Profits from the bike shop support the local health clinic and schools by providing funds for much needed school and medical supplies.
To learn more about Bicycles for Humanity-Colorado and how you can help make a difference, visit www.b4hcolorado.org.
Bike Facts:
- A health care worker can visit 3-4 times more patients with a bike
- Girls are 70% more likely to attend school if their household owns a bike
- 5 km on foot = 1 hr
- 5 km on a bike = 20 minutes
- A bike carries 3 times the weight of a person walking
