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Ottawa group sends 400 bicycles to Namibia
June 29, 2009 - Kehemu, Namibia
Publication Link: Ottawa group sends 400 bicycles to Namibia
In the News
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For a year, a charitable organization called Bicycles for Humanity has been collecting bicycles from across the city to send to a Namibian community, where they'll be used for transportation.
The group has raised $10,000 to buy a large container to transport the bikes. Once the bikes have been delivered, the container will stay in the community to be used as a bicycle repair shop.
Seb Oran, co-founder of Bicycles for Humanity in Ottawa, said the bike program will create five bike mechanic jobs in the community where the bikes are being shipped.
"If it was a handout and not a hand-up, we probably wouldn't be involved," she said.
"They have to give away a certain percentage [of the bikes] to health-care workers, a certain percentage to students, and the rest they fix up and sell in the community."
Oran said some of the bicycles will be converted into bike ambulances that will help deliver medical aid to people who can't make the trip to health clinics.
Volunteers in Ottawa loaded 400 bikes into
a storage container this weekend so they
could be shipped to Namibia. (Courtesy of Seb Oran)
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