Last weekend was Holi Festival. Holi Festival is one of the most anticipated and celebrated Hindu festivals. It is also called the Festival of Colour of the Festival of Love.
This uber-participatory event traditionally celebrates unity and forgiveness. The spreading of colours represents new beginnings, and overcoming hatred and jealousy.
The festival lasts for a day and a night. It starts on the evening of Purnima. The first evening is called Holika Dahan/Choti Holi and the following day is Holi.
Holi is globally celebrated and is famous for the explosion of colours (dyed corn starch) and being a day of rejoicing and dancing.
Traditionally, handfuls of colour are thrown over people as they dance. More recently, this has been adapted to fit with a DJ set. The DJ will whip happy dancers into a frenzy and coloured powder will be thrown about and shot out of purpose-made cannons during cresendos. Damn good fun!
A main drawback of the day for me was the massive amount of small plastic bags used to package the colours – that, and too many people ‘forgot’ to put their empties in the bin …grrrrr. So, I just incorporated into my dancing a series of lunges and oh-so-coordinated-and-elegant ground sweep moves to I pick up as many as I could – back on track!
Each year in Brisbane, my favorite Holi Celebration is the one community event at Seventeen Mile Rocks. Last year I had a great time. It is so much fun….AND includes a bike ride! Woohoo!
This year, the Seventeen Mile Rocks Holi event was part of Brisbane City Council’s BrisAsia Festival 2019.
As well as immersing yourself in Indian culture, there is a community bike ride that starts at the festival HQ and returns in time to see the music, entertainment and frivolity begin.
This 5 km ride is a great way to bring community together and is family-friendly. The route is an easy-paced, flat, bike path ride alongside the river and is a suitable for all ages and stages.
They have a mechanic onsite who offers free bike safety checks. Traditionally, most riders wear white everyday clothing in anticipation of afternoon antics. A good general rule is not to bring any valuables, clothing or items you don’t mind getting stained, wet or damaged.
Many riders decorate their bikes and it is a fun way to get more little kids interested in riding. When I take Leki my flower bike, I am always swamped with people coming up for a chat!
Image: Couleurdenuitofficiel
It is lovely seeing your fellow riders dotted around throughout the day – and they often magically appear in front of you through a cloud of vibrant colour – smiling and dancing and waving to you. Awesome!
Here is a quick look at what it’s like – if you’ve been before, you know to be wear glasses and keep you mouth closed!
See you all there for the ride and festivities next year!
This week, I attended the Chicks Who Ride Bikes (CWRB) first event for the year – the Climb Every Mountain Breakfast.
Last month, I posted about this event and how much I was looking forward to it. The breakfast was hosted by Olympian and cycling commentator Katey Bates who was joined by panelists Aussie cycling legend Loren Rowney and Media guru Jane Aubrey. Unfortunately, Chief CWRB Jordana Blackman couldn’t make it. It was a great way to start the day, the morning was glorious and I really liked the early breakfast format. I got there just ahead of time, signed in and headed out onto the Ship Inn deck to grab a coffee and mingle.
The format allowed for social time on arrival for the first half an hour, then we sat down for breakfast, where we got to meet a whole new group of people at the table. Then the panel took to the stage for a discussion and Q & A, and prizes were given out at the end.
I didn’t have to rush off for work so was also able to hang around and chat some more at the end as well which was an extra bonus!
The view overlooking Southbank from the deck was a wonderful backdrop. The coffee kicked in early and people were mingling and networking. I had a couple of lovely chats to new people and made sure I sat with people I hadn’t yet meet when we sat down for breakfast.
The panel discussion was very interesting.
I like the discussion-style, open, unscripted approach. The stories, challenges and success that Loren Rowney and Loretta Bayliss each shared were poignant, heartfelt and honest. They both have had such different interests, approaches, trajectories, choices and struggles.
Loren spoke of what happened when she was selected to be on the Australian Olympic Cycling Team, how she has dealt with her infamous crash and what she has been working on since.
Loretta drew on her love of mountain climbing, the importance of her ‘tribe’ when building an IT company and the role her children have had in shaping her understandings of life and herself.
Katey was a consumate host: there were laughs and contrasts, a good variety in questions, and she expertly linked panelist insights back to the collective audience.
There is a real power in hearing personal experiences first-hand!
Image: CWRB
There were many highlights, but a few standouts were the personal nature of the event, the vulnerability of the speakers, the friendliness of the attendees, and having a social event that doesn’t involve alcohol.
My favorite aspect of this event was simply having the designated time to meet and talk to a new group of women who I would otherwise not have met – and that we all had a common passion out of which other connections, ideas and topics emerged.
A big thank you to all those who attended – and to the organisers for putting on such an enjoyable and interesting event.
What a wonderful inaugural #CWRB event to kick-start the year!
Alexander Csoma de Koros was a Hungarian traveller/explorer who traveled to Tibet in 1820 where he learnt the language and culture.
Csoma ended up being a cross-cultural pioneer for both countries and forged a long-standing language, cultural and learning exchange between the two nations which still endures today.
To commemorate Csoma’s spirit of cultural support and exchange, Hungarian conceptual tech lab Kitchen Budapest has created a low-tech kinetic image projector called Csoma’s Wheel.
Csoma’s Wheel is a bicycle-based installation that uses traditional Tibetan prayer wheel design as the base structure to create an electronic art/image projector.
The LED flashing prayer-wheel is made from
two bicycle wheels, bike and other parts, LEDs and a concrete block. When the
wheel is rotated by hand, the spinning generates enough electricity to power a
strip of LEDs that shine light through a perforated screen or drum. From these
LEDs, a basic animated image is projected onto the concrete block.
The homes and schools are all completely solar-powered.
This NGO uses sustainable local materials
(adobe bricks), revives and utilises traditional construction and handicraft skills,
supports local economic and labour/skill (income-generating) opportunities,
builds more schools and homes and provides solar power.
In
keeping with Alexander’s spirit, there is a strong emphasis on promoting local
heritage and using local Zanglar skills, practices and materials to reduce
reliance on high tech, resource-dependant, imported materials.
The bicycle prayer-wheel projector was installed to complement the recent completion of major construction to Csoma’s Sanctuary, which is visited by many international visitors each year.
This is certainly one of the more unique and innovative ways to use bicycles!
This blog prides itself on sharing the grassroots stories, events and experiences of local and international community cyclists. Around the world, cyclists are grappling with many issues – and this story from JP hit a particular nerve in drawing attention to the issue of air pollution. The article republished here was an open letter written by San Paulo local bicycle activist JP Amaral for Global Call to Climate Action at the end of last year. Recently, I reported on Areli Carreón who is the first ever Latin American Bicycle Mayor (Mexico City) because it is important to hear more from our concerned and proactive Latin American cycling brothers and sisters. A big thanks to JP for sharing his thoughts, research and insights with us. We applaud your work and are sending you much support from down under!
I used to believe poor air quality was a major barrier to cycling in our urban centers and couldn’t understand the reason for my respiratory problems in my hometown São Paulo, where air pollution levels are 60% above the WHO’s safety limits and responsible for 6,421 deaths each year.
However, as I started cycling, the health benefits were immediate, especially for my respiratory system.
Image: The Conversation
Now, after 10 years working on sustainable urban mobility, being co-founder of Bike Anjo, a large national network of volunteers promoting cycling as a means of transport in Brazil, and an active member of the international Bicycle Mayor Network, I understand that the health benefits of cycling and walking outweigh the harm from inhaling air loaded with traffic fumes.
This is a message we always try to get across to the people we help in learning to cycle or tracing their daily routes. Moreover, research studies have shown that car drivers in heavy traffic inhale more pollution.
The biggest metropolitan area in South America (population: 21.2 million), São Paulo is notorious for its traffic; a recent study found that São Paulo inhabitants spent 86 hours on average in 2017 stuck in traffic (or 22% of total drive time), putting it in the top five cities for traffic congestion.
In this city, cars and motorcycles are a much-desired escape from long, arduous journeys on public transport, especially for the poor living on the outskirts who commute every day into the city centre.
Over the past decade, Federal government incentives to the car industry have brought down the price of cars, making them significantly more accessible. It is not surprising then that the main source of air pollution in São Paulo – as in several world cities – is the vehicular fleet, accounting for 80% of total air pollutants.
Despite this unfavourable scenario, cycling has been growing in popularity in recent years: we’ve gone from 100,000 bike trips a day in 2007 to 300,000 trips a day in 2012, and a recent study by the Secretary of Transport estimated over 1 million bike trips a day in São Paulo.
Cycling in Sao Paulo (Brazil). Image: Raw Story
Investments in cycling infrastructure and a series of incentives, such as 400 km of new bike lanes and bike paths, new bike sharing systems and banning car traffic in some of the city’s busiest streets on Sundays have contributed to this culture change. Surfing on this trend, Bike Anjo expanded its network of volunteers, helping “paulistanos” explore safe cycling routes and cycle with more confidence.
This year, our successful Bike to Work campaign has highlighted the health benefits of cycling, focusing on two women who agreed to ride their bikes to work for an entire month for the first time, whilst having their health monitored by doctors.
Having experienced so many physical and mental health benefits from this challenging experiment, they both decided to continue their daily bicycling commutes. We hope that this experience, featured on national television, has encouraged many Brazilians to do the same.
While behaviour change campaigns such as this one can make a difference, a long lasting change in transport culture must be underpinned by robust public policies that are conducive to active mobility. At the federal level, a progressive piece of policy framework was proposed as the “National Urban Mobility Act”, in 2012, putting forward active mobility as the prioritized mode of transport in Brazilian cities.
However, the national plan implementation depends entirely on the formulation of municipal urban mobility plans, which are either non existent or at early stages of implementation in most of Brazil’s municipalities. Through working with civil society actors, Bike Anjo and the Brazilian Cyclists’ Union (UCB) have been trying to assist municipalities in getting their plans off the paper and into action.
The gaps are numerous; from policy design to implementation, from federal to municipal level, and importantly, the tendency of treating issues in silos.
Health policies rarely engage in dialogue with mobility policies, despite existing evidence that reducing air pollution in urban centres through clean, sustainable transport results in better public health outcomes and significant savings in government expenditures.
Air pollution is now responsible for over 7 million premature deaths per year, globally. The urgency of reducing such mortality rates, coupled with that of mitigating the impacts of climate change, leaves us with no more time to tolerate carbon emissions from fossil fueled transport.
Image: Dublin Cycling Campaign
The latest UN scientific report has warned we may have only 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe if global warming exceeds 1.5C, singling out the transport sector as the fastest growing contributor to climate emissions
This first global WHO conference on health and air pollution is a unique occasion where national leaders from different sectors facing similar local challenges can meet and exchange experiences, learn from civil society and ultimately commit to agreed targets to meet the WHO’s air quality guidelines by 2030, matching the needs of reducing carbon emissions.
Image: WHO
Clean, renewable energy, electric vehicles, the elimination of fossil fuels subsidies, smarter urban planning, and better public transport infrastructure are some of the choices policy makers can make to avoid countless preventable deaths, drastically improve air quality and health, and contribute towards a safer climate.
At the conference, I plan to highlight how cycling can play a major role in transforming mobility around the world. Given the convenience, health benefits and affordability of bicycles, they could provide a far greater proportion of sustainable urban transport, helping reduce not only air pollution, but energy use and CO2 emissions worldwide.
Active mobility is often underestimated, but if you think about it, bicycles could be the ultimate icon of sustainable transport. As the far right takes power in countries across the planet, including most recently Brazil, city level solutions offer real hope and the best bet for change.
Image: WHO Image: WHO
About the author JP Amaral is an active member of the international Bicycle Mayor Network initiated by Amsterdam based social enterprise BYCS, and co-founder of the Bike Anjo Network (bikeanjo.org), currently coordinating the “Bicycle in the Plans” project. He has a bachelor degree on Environmental Management at the University of São Paulo and has been working in sustainable urban mobility since 2008. He is certified as an auditor on the BYPAD methodology – Bicycle Planning Audit, and is the Bicycle Mayor of São Paulo. He is also fellow member of the Red Bull Amaphyko network for social entrepreneurs and of the German Chancellor Fellowship program for tomorrow’s leaders from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, working with international cooperation towards cycling promotion, especially between Brazil and Europe.
Bike Anjo (Bike Angels) is a network of voluntary cyclists who engage people to use bicycles as a mean of transforming cities – from teaching how to ride a bicycle to identifying safe cycling routes for São Paulo inhabitants and building national campaigns.
The Bicycle Mayor Network is a global network of changemakers – initiated by Amsterdam based social enterprise BYCS – that radically accelerates cycling progress in cities worldwide. The individual use the power of their network to influence politics and the broader public to start cycling. Bicycle mayors transform cities, cities transform the world.
This time last year, I was down in Melbourne performing our roving performance The BioBike Your Future Thanks You! at the Sustainable Living Festival. This just happened to coincide with Bike Rave Melburn 2018 Pink Flamingo – which of course I went to. I took the BioBike with me, met up with some mates and got amongst it at the rave. As always, we had an absolute blast! It was awesome being back in my home town, catching up with old crew, making new friends, checking out people’s wicked pimped out rides and cruising around Melbs as the sun when down to pumping tunes – all on two wheels (*sigh*).
FB: @Bike Rave AUS
Brisbane, my dear, when are you having a bike rave?
Sat 16th February was the 2019 GOLD – Melbourne Bike Rave!
Hells Yeah!!!
Thanks to everyone who sent through pics and well wishes – I missed being with you all this year…but was stoked to see such an awesome turn out!
“Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.”
Bike Rave is a free event – but we ask you to bring along a cash donation for charity Bicycles for Humanity. We will be collecting throughout the evening.
THE MUSIC: We have curated a whopping 4.5-hour mix from some very talented DJ’s for this Bike Rave. The mix is full of pumping party tunes to keep you dancing all night long. You should download this and put it onto an mp3 player.
SOUND: Bike Rave is a DIY event. Grab an MP3 player and put the mix on it. Bring your own speakers, build a sound bike, be creative! Need sound for your bike? Get a basket and some computer speakers, or head to Jaycar, JB-HIFI, etc to set up a self-contained set. There are some great solutions from $15, and some pretty impressive creations. Just remember to charge those batteries.
BRIGHT LIGHTS: Think bright lights, reflective jackets, fluoro hair, glow sticks, EL wire, or anything else that flashes and blinks. This isn’t just about making sure that you look awesome, make sure your bike is pimped out also.
DRESS UP: Gold, shiny, shimmer, bling, the ol’ razzle-dazzle. We want the Bike Rave to be a shiny shimmering mess as we ride along the river into the sunset.
THE WEATHER: If it’s nice out, we ride. If it’s cloudy, we ride. If it’s raining a little, we might ride. If it’s pouring, we don’t ride. Our speakers will get messed up. If you aren’t sure, show up anyways. Someone will be there from 5:30pm to let people know if the ride is canceled.
Bike Rave was founded in Vancouver but is shared around the world.
@alleyratlowriders
RAVE RULES: There are a few rules that we would like you to follow to ride the rave. This makes it safer for everyone and avoids problems on the night. We’ve never had an issue in the 6 years of running this event, so let’s work together to keep it that way.
Protect Your Head Stay to the Left Stop at Lights Ride Straight Don’t Hate Pack Your Trash Don’t Get Smashed
IMPORTANT! We are not responsible for your safety; YOU ARE! We have done our best to ensure that the route is well lit and safe, but it does involve a little riding on the road and in the dark and past people. We should attempt to obey all traffic laws. If we get split up, we can rejoin at one of the several stopping points along the ride, so please stop at red lights and stop signs.
Bike ravers around the world unite! See you all next year!
Pablo Neruda and his wife, Matilda Urrutia. Image: Unapizcadechmha via Pintrest
Valentine’s
Day is celebrated internationally as ‘Lover’s Day’.
Poems are often shared as a way to express that which we love.
This
year, I’ve turned to Chilean Poet Pablo Neruda.
Neruda was a prolific poet, a political and social activist, and an international diplomat.
He had a wonderful sense of humour and wrote collections of love and life. Neruda also wrote many odes to celebrate simple daily objects that may be taken for granted, like tomatoes, salt and socks … and bicycles!
This is a gorgeous film in its own right, only made better by having the lead character delivering love poems by bicycle!
Perfecto!
So for all the lovers of bicycles – and the people who ride them, here is Pablo Neruda’s Ode to Bicycles.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Enjoy!
Il Postino. Image: cranesareflying1
Ode to Bicycles
I was walking down a sizzling road: the sun popped like a field of blazing maize, the earth was hot, an infinite circle with an empty blue sky overhead.
A few
bicycles
passed
me by,
the only
insects
in
that dry
moment of summer,
silent,
swift,
translucent;
they
barely stirred
the air.
Workers
and girls
were riding to their
factories,
giving
their eyes
to summer,
their heads to the sky,
sitting on the
hard
beetle backs
of the whirling
bicycles
that whirred
as they rode by
bridges, rosebushes, brambles
and midday.
I thought about evening when the boys wash up, sing, eat, raise a cup of wine in honor of love and life, and waiting at the door, the bicycle, stilled, because only moving does it have a soul, and fallen there it isn’t a translucent insect humming through summer but a cold skeleton that will return to life only when it’s needed, when it’s light, that is, with the resurrection of each day.
Oda a la Bicicleta. Image: lesmolletsmoteursPablo Neruda. Image: Only Melbourne
The 2019 Brisbane
Bicycle Short Film Festival is fast approaching.
This year, it’s on Friday 29th March at the Schonell
Theatre (UQ) St Lucia, Brisbane.
This Bike Festival
is a great night out and Space
for Cycling Brisbane does a great job of putting this festival together.
It’s not surprising
that tickets sell out quickly.
To start the night you can join the Style not Speed social ride to get there. On arrival, there is usually some bicycle-themed entertainment and a chance to mingle and chat about all things bikey.
Image: Style Over Speed (Brisbane)
The festival is divided
into two parts.
The first half
showcases the finalists of the Brisbane Bike Bite entrants. These are local
short films of no more than 5 mins and are often the most popular part of the
night.
This film’s synopsis
is 2600 kilometers, 420 dollars, 30 days, 5 bikes, 3 cameras, 2
guitars, 1 voice, and one of the most influential novels of the 20th century –
The Bikes of Wrath is a story of adventure, physical struggle, human
connection, cultural commentary and the American Dream.
Looks super interesting!
So, if you have not
done so already – get your tickets!
The Chinese New Year is also called the Spring Festival or Luna New Year.
The 2019 year of the Pig is predicted to be a particularly auspicious and lucky year. And with the zodiac sign of the pig representing diligence, kindness and generosity, people working on projects (like PhDs and other ventures) can look forward to some super positive changes in the next 12 months!
Hooray!
The Chinese fortune calendar combines solar, lunar and 60 Stem-Branch counting systems. The 60 Stem-Branch calendar uses the names of the Yin and Yang Five Elements (Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth) and 12 animals to rank the yearly sequences. The five elements are connected to five colors – White, Black, Green, Red, and Brown. So the new year uses an element, its color and the animal name to count the year. In this system, 2019 is the year of the Female Earth Pig – and given that brown is connected to the Earth it is a Brown Earth Pig Year.
February 2019 is also an especially fortuitous month.
February2019 will only come once in a lifetime. This is because this year’s February has 4 Mondays, 4 Tuesdays, 4 Wednesdays, 4 Thursdays, 4 Fridays, 4 Saturdays and 4 Sundays.
This only happens once every 823 years!
The Chinese New Year is celebrated worldwide and this year, I was delighted to see this Irish bicycle-assisted celebration for Chinese New Year – Dublin’s Lazy Bike ToursAsian Flavours Event.
Image: Lazy Bike Tours
Asian Flavours on a Lazy Bike
Lazy Bike Tours offer three-hour electric bike tours that celebrates the Chinese New Year and highlights Dublin’s enduring connection to China. While on this guided tour, participants are given an informed account of Dublin’s Chinese migration and history whilst riding around Chinatown. As part of the tour, riders get to visit the Spring Festival Fair at the CHQ building and check out the market stalls. As a finale, the tour finishes up at a local Chinese restaurant to experience traditional new year cuisine and culture.
What a great way to start the Luna New Year … being out and about, happily social, interacting with community, learning about culture and having fun on two wheels – awesome!
However you celebrate Chinese New Year – I hope it’s also on two wheels!
At some stage in most postgrad programs, students will need to complete
an Annotated Bibliography.
The style, format, content and purpose of an annotated bibliography differs depending on intent, discipline, timing and approach.
I completed an Ann Bib of 15 key feminist New Materialism articles when I reframed my PhD theoretical framework.
It was a very valuable exercise. Not only did it require me to be judicious in selecting the articles, I put to work a different set of reading skills, applied critical appraisal to each, achieved a deep learning about the topic, and it formed to guts of my dissertation’s Theoretical Perspectives (Chapter 3).
Some of my Postgrad students have been asking about how to do an Annotated
Bibliography – so here are some ideas on how to approach it.
Image: Skidmore Library
What is an annotated bibliography?
Annotation
= notes (critical notes and evaluative comments)
Bibliography
= a list of readings/research sources
An annotated bibliography is a summary account of the available empirical
research and literature on a specific topic.
As well as a general outline of the research source, it also includes your
own concise analysis, reflections, critiques, evaluation or any other comments
and notes of each source as to how the source is linked/useful for your own research
project.
Devising an Annotated Bibliography
If you go online (academic websites and YouTube are a good place to
start) there is a plethora of information about on how to do an Annotated Bibliography.
One quick caveat regarding the information below.
There is no one way to do an annotated bibliography.
The following format is my own enmeshed format that suits my interest, needs and style. The content, length and focus for your purpose may differ – so be sure to do you own homework and experiment.
If you are doing an Anno Bib for a uni course – make sure you consult your supervisor, tutor or manager to see how/what elements best suit your project or what style they recommend.
I developed my own format based on three imputs: my own ideas/needs, some ideas gleamed from Prof Robert Talbert, and info from UNSW
1. My Enmeshed Annotated Bibliography
I wanted a longer format Anno Bib because I was reading complex theoretical and praxis articles in-depth.
I included a few additional elements: what type of article it is, how many times it has been cited, my own questions the article raised, interesting terms/concepts and vocab with the page number included for quick referencing if needed later.
Here are the elements in my Anno Bib.
Full APA Reference details
Article: This is a (style/type) article*. This article has been cited XXX times.
The context is …
The ‘big’ guiding question/s from this field this paper is addressing is …
The Lit Review background focuses …
The specific RQ of this article is …
The methods used…
The authors conclude/results are that ..
The strengths of this text is ..
However, the limitations are ..
The authors did/not answer the RQ they posed by… (optional)…
Some unique or helpful special features of this article were ..
Prof. Talbert uses a Get Things Done! (GTD) approach to reading research articles, which I find very productive, so I’ve gleamed a few ideas from his approach.
UNSW
recommends that contents of an annotated bibliography can contain all or part of these
elements (depending on the word limit and the content of the sources).
Provide the full bibliographic citation
Indicate the background of the author(s)
Indicate the content or scope of the text
Outline the main argument
Indicate the intended audience
Identify the research methods (if applicable)
Identify any conclusions made by the author/s
Discuss the reliability of the text
Highlight any special features of the text that were unique or helpful (charts, graphs etc.)
Discuss the relevance or usefulness of the text for your research
Point out in what way the text relates to themes or concepts in your course
State the strengths and limitations of the text
Present your view or reaction to the text
This is a
comprehensive approach to critically reading literature. I like the idea of
including the background of the author – which is good for tracing a concept’s genealogy
or the development of a prominent author’s argument.
Here’s a
UNSW example of an Anno Bib, but for postgrad or PhD purposes, this is far too simplistic,
but you can see the general idea/format.
There are as many ways to do an annotated bibliography
as there are students. Have an explore online to see what elements you need to
include – and be sure to talk others (especially a supervisor or tutor) on other
recommended formats.
Undertaking and annotated bibliography is a very worthwhile
activity to get to know a topic in detail – and it is a very necessary and
sought-after advanced academic skill.
Best of luck if you are conducting an annotated bibliography!
For many years, World Bicycle Relief (WBR) has supplied bicycles to some of the world’s most vulnerable people to help increase access to education, healthcare and income-generation opportunities. WBR has a number of corporate sponsors and partnerships. This story details a unique collaboration between WBR, ING Bank and World Vision, called the Orange Bicycle Project. This story comes courtesy of WBR and serves as a reminder that bicycles really do create change. Enjoy! NG.
Dutch financial institution ING has built their corporate purpose around “empowering people to stay a step ahead, in life and in business.” While ING remains committed to this purpose in their day-to-day banking work, they also wanted to integrate it into their corporate giving efforts.
And if they could find a way to honor their Dutch bicycling heritage at the same time, even better! The organization did just that by developing a sustainable transportation relief program: the Orange Bike Project.
Image: World Bicycle Relief
ING collaborated with World Bicycle Relief (WBR) and World Vision Philippines to bring bicycles to children living in remote locations in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand.
The project is modeled after WBR’s Bicycles for Educational Empowerment Program (BEEP) and aspires to raise enough funds over five years to build and distribute 5,000 bicycles to students who must walk long distances to school every day.
WBR’s educational programs in Africa have demonstrated that reducing students’ travel time to school helps improve attendance and performance.
Bicycle-riding students are more likely to stay in school, improving their career prospects and future income potential as well. As Mark Newman, CEO of ING Asia, says, “We hope that the ING Orange Bike project will be able to create a lasting impact that empowers the students, their families and the community to keep moving forward in life.”
The project’s orange ING-branded Buffalo Bicycle is specially designed for rough, rural terrain and can carry loads up to 100 kg – making it useful for the student’s family to transport crops and goods to the market when school is not in session.
As of December 2016, 3,200 bicycles have been distributed through the Orange Bike Project. The program’s impact is carefully monitored by a local implementing agency, and the results have been spectacular!
In several beneficiary schools in the Philippines, attendance has increased by at least 33% and grades by at least 51%. The bicycles have also helped recipient families bring more goods to market, increasing their income.
ING has plans to raise $200,000 annually to continue the program through 2018. Employee fundraising groups like the ING Orange Bike Cycling Challenge have helped ING reach its goal by raising $75,000 in 2016. The program has benefited from the enthusiastic support of ING employees and friends who all share the organization’s commitment to empowering individuals.
Shayne Prashan, ING employee and team leader for the ING Orange Bike Cycling Challenge, was motivated to fundraise for the project because of the emotional enlightenment it offered him. “It’s about the only superpower that makes us human: empathy.”
Shayne says. “It invites us on one of the greatest and most courageous adventures of our lives: to step into someone else’s shoes to understand their struggles and to help them walk through life with confidence and faith.”
