Indian girl cycles injured father 1, 200kms home

You might have seen this story in the news recently. If not, you need to know about it! It is an inspirational story of fifteen-year-old Jyoti Kumari who rode a second-hand bicycle 1, 200kms with her disabled father as pillion to get home amidst India’s coronavirus lockdown. Amazing! Enjoy. NG.

Mohan (father) is an e-rickshaw driver who sustain a fracture knee during a road accident. They had travelled to seek medical attention. Their family lives in Gurugram (a suburb of the Indian capital Delhi) and his young daughter Jyoti went with him to look after him while he recovered when the lockdown started on 25 March.

Far from home, they soon ran out of money to buy food and medicines. There was no transport available because of COVID lockdown.

So Jyoti decided to buy a bicycle and like thousands of other Indian migrant workers have done since March, make her way home.

Using the money they had left (Rs2000) she bought a second-hand hot pink bike with a rack on the back for her injured father to ride pillion. They left home only with a bottle of water and she rode him non-stop from Sikandarpur in Haryana to Darbhanga in Bihar with only brief stops at Palwal, Agra and Mathura.

The trip was 1200km. Keep in mind the blistering heat and that they had no money for food along the way and relied on the kindness of strangers.

Jyoti said she was exhausted from the trip and that “It was a difficult journey”. She also said “The weather was too hot, but we had no choice. I had only one aim in my mind, and that was to reach home. It was a decision taken in desperation”.

Her efforts have made global headlines and won hearts on social media.

Their trip highlights the plight of migrant workers caught in the lockdown. Activists say her story highlights desperate measures migrants are taking under the Covid-19 lockdown in India

The Indian Express reports Mohan (father) says they survived with the help of “several well-wishers” on the road. “We were lucky. Jyoti pedalled for eight days, making brief stops at Palwal, Agra and Mathura. At some places, we would get a proper meal, sometimes just biscuits, but we managed”.

Jyoti’s bike ride story viral internationally (just look it up on the internet or on a news service) and their journey internationally highlighted ongoing issues such as the precarious situation of migrant workers, inequity and access to healthcare and how the most disadvantaged are being impacted by COVID-19.

Jyoti gained popularity due to her kindness and effort- and has had offers of financial help.

Jyoti’s riding also caught the attention of the Indian cycling Federation.

Impressed by her fortitude and stamina, Cycling Federation of India Chairman Onkar Singh said he was “extremely impressed” and that “it’s no mean feat for a 15-year-old to pedal with her father for eight days at a stretch over more than 1,200 km. It shows her endurance levels”.

She has been invited to try out for the national cycling team having proven her stamina.

“Once she is out of quarantine, we will bring her to Delhi to conduct trials, where we will ascertain if she can be groomed into a serious cyclist. And then, it’s up to her if she wants to pursue a career in cycling. We can even transfer her to Patna or any other centre that’s closer to her village. Ultimately, she has to make the choice” Singh said.

What an incredible story!

Content for this post was sourced from news sources: The Indian Express, the ABC and Inquirer.net (YouTube) which the images/stills are from.

07/01/202010/02/2020

Bike Works at Kunnanurra WA

This blog has looked at a number of programs that increase bike use, access and participation for indigenous Australians, such as:

In this post, we look at one of Bikes 4 Life programs that connects with local deadly youths living in a remote community to a range of other health services by improving bike participation.

Bikes 4 Life is an international non-government organisation that supplies bicycles all over the world to improve education access, health outcomes and income generation.

One of Bikes 4 Life’s programs operates in a remote Western Australia community in conjunction with the local organisation East Kimberley Job Pathways (EKJP).

East Kimberley Job Pathways is located in the far north of Western Australia in the isolated community of Kunnunurra. EKJP is a ‘for purpose’ Aboriginal Corporation with the primary purpose of delivering the Australian Government’s Community Development Programme across the broader East Kimberley Region of Western Australia.

In 2019, the EKJP team ran a bike rescue program called BikeWorks. The Bike Works program underpins a social and emotional wellbeing program that EKJP runs for local youths. This program teaches youths how to refurbish and maintain donated bicycles sourced through Bikes 4 Life. Read more about the program here.

The bikes used for the program are all recreational bikes (no roadies) because more robust bikes are better suited to the remote Western Australian terrain and climate.

The Bike Works program outcomes are:

Increased social and emotional wellbeing
Teamwork and networks
Building new relationships
Improved attendance at school (and/or other education pathways)
Raised aspirations of future pathways
Connection and contribution to community
Employment opportunities (within the Bike Program and with other employers)

The program was very successful. After a great start in 2019, and with increasing demands for bikes in the community, Bikes 4 Life is will continue sending bikes and supporting EKJP so this program can keep progressing.

Parts of this post are sourced from Bikes 4 Life Projects web page.

19/12/201912/01/2020

Wadjda – an Arabic girl’s dream to ride a bike

A big thank you to Jenny and Sam for emailing me about this film. I have known about it previously, but have not gotten around to posting about it. Their email provided the impetus to get it done! It is always so lovely to get emails from readers, supporters, family, friends and like-minded people. Happy holidays everyone! Enjoy! NG.

The end of the year is fast approaching and the holiday season is nearly here.

If you are looking for a film to watch over the festive season and are keen to try something totally unique (and bicycle focused), I’d highly recommend Wadjda.

Wadjda is an M-rated Arabic language drama film starring Waad Mohammed, (Wadjda), Abdullrahman Al Gohani (Wadjda’s father) and Reem Abdullah (Wadjda’s mother).

This film is written and directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour and it’s her directorial debut film. The film premiered in 2012 and is entirely shot in Saudi Arabia. As such, it is touted as being Saudi Arabia’s first-ever feature film.

And the whole film has at its core a green bicycle.

What is Wadjda about?

Wadjda is a simple, but poignant story.

It centres on a young girl (Wadjda) and what happens when she pursues her dream of owning a bicycle of her own to race her friend Abdullah, despite it being culturally inappropriate.

Wadjda’s desire to get a bike means facing various family and cultural expectations in a series of ups and downs with her mother, father, friends, bike shop owner and community members.

Despite all, Wadjda is adamant that she needs to own a bike of her own.

To achieve this, the ‘rebellious’ Wadjda enters a Koran recitation competition at her school in order to win the prize money so she can buy a green bicycle. The story is tailored to highlight the pressures and difficulties faced by women in Saudi Arabia. This film has been revered for providing a rare glimpse into the usually secret lives of Saudi women ad what life is like behind closed doors. It is also an exploration and celebration of the warm relationships between mothers and daughters.

Watch the full feature film Wadjda (free) here

I am thoroughly delighted that the ‘first feature film’ to come out of Saudi Arabia has such strong bike riding, cultural/social gender, equity and children’s determination themes, issues and engagement.

The importance of this film has been discussed widely. As Laura Nicholson writes for Dispatch: ‘That a film about a young girl protesting systematic oppression through the succinctly metaphorical dream of riding a bicycle was the first to be recognised as a product of (an emerging) Saudi Arabian national cinema, is exceptional. That the film was created by an Arab woman hailed as the first, Saudi female filmmaker, is monumental.”

Wadjda was Nominated for a 2013 BAFTA award for Best Film not in English.

Read more about the plot, cast, production and the array of awards this film has received here.

Images: All images are stills from Wadjda. Official feature film poster.

14/12/201904/01/2020

Fairy Houses and Mountain Bikes

Recently I happened to come across a YouTube video by a guy called Jonathan Wilkins.

Jon is an everyday guy who lives in the US. He is a mountain biker, runner, camper and loves a good beer.

He has a daughter called Sara who is mad about football (soccer), is an active outdoorswoman and keen musician.

Jon has been uploading short videos on YouTube for 10 years. When he first started out in 2010, he uploaded one video per month. His videos range from 11 seconds to 7 minutes and they document everyday life moments – family outings, work commutes, football highlights, music jams and Sara at various stages of growing up.

In 2019, it looks like Jon set himself a challenge to upload one video per day for the whole year. Each video is no longer than 1 minute.

The video that caught my eye was from Jon’s 2019 collection. It was the title that got my attention first. It was called Day 89: Fairy Houses and Mountain Bikes.

Fairy Houses and Mountain Bikes. Bicycles Create Change.com 13th Dec 2019. — Jon and Sara out MTB riding.

It features his daughter Sara working on a fairy house and then the pair going for a ride in the woods. Perfect!

When I watched this video, it made me smile.

This video has it all – simple pleasures, whimsical creative play, celebrating everyday moments, quality father-daughter time, trying new things (thrills, spills) and getting outdoors – and of course bikes!

I also love the juxtaposition of fairy houses and MTB –very original!

It always makes me so happy to see MTB dads getting out with their daughters/kids on bikes – and Jon not only does that, but also incorporates Sara’s interest in the Fairy House into the video as well. GOLD!

This video spoke to me of connection, fun, action, playfulness, diversity and inclusion.

Which is what riding bikes is all about for most riders.

I like watching MTB videos (like on Pink Bike) and appreciate the beautiful cinematography, scenery, skills and soundtracks. But equally, I can be turned off by how polished, white, male, elite rider centric most of the videos are.

I prefer videos that show a wider range of MTB experiences – like riders of all shapes, sizes, places, colours, ages and skills.

And having a twist – and the Fairy House is a great addition. I have seen a few ‘creative’ things on the side of MTB trials – why not MTB fairy houses. Why so serious?

It is also great to see the more experienced male riders – and dads in particular – genuinely encouraging more young girls/daughters to ride more.

Yup, it makes me smile.

We definitely need more videos, men, dads and riders like Jon (and Sara).

Happy riding all!

All images courtesy of Jonathon Wilkins video (see above).

22/11/201925/11/2019

Global Childhood Juxtapositions: World Children’s Day 2019

Regular readers of this blog know that my PhD research explores how bicycles feature in rural African girls’ access to education. This means mobility, education, in/equity, gender justice and children’s rights are central to much of the work I do. They are also reoccurring themes for this blog. I regularly post articles that showcase how bicycles create more positive social, environmental and educational change for all – and in many cases for children specifically.

A few previous BCC posts that feature bikes and kids are:

Bicycle Washing Machine (15 Nov 2015)
Do education levels effect cycling rates? (18 Nov 2015)
Bihar – Girls’ Bicycles Education Scheme (26 Feb 2016)
Japan: Bicycles that expand children’s potential in Cambodia (20 Apr 2016)
Indigenous Youth Olympic Track Cyclists (4 June 2017)
Let your kids Ride2School – then go to jail! (17 Mar 2017)
Jakarta slums alive with fold-out bikes (8 Sept 2018)
The Orange Bike project in the Philippines (27 Jan 2019)
1,300 South Sudanese girls to get bicycles to access education (20 Aug 2019)

November 20^th is the World Children’s Day.

This year, I wanted to acknowledge this date in a different way.

Instead of sharing a project where children benefit from bikes, I wanted to highlight the juxtapositions of cultural experiences of children around the world.

Expand your cultural competency

This week in my Griffith Uni 1205MED Health Challenges for the 21^st Century class, we discussed cultural competency and cultural safety. I challenged my students to set themselves a cultural competency experiment/activity for homework – something that they needed to do that would push them outside their own cultural box.

It is too easy for us to think that our experience of life is how it is everywhere.

In Western countries, we are very privileged and sheltered. The experiences of being a child in Australia, the US, Europe, Scandinavia or the UK is vastly different than those in less advantaged countries.

To more broadly consider how culture and environment impact children’s lives differently, look no further than artist Uğur Gallenkuş (@ugrgallen) – his work does this uncompromisingly.

Global Childhood Juxtapositions: The work of Uğur Gallenkuş.

To honour 2019 World Children’s Day, I’m sharing some of Turkish artist Uğur Gallenkuş work. Uğur is a digital artist who collages images to highlight binaries, juxtapositions and contrasts in human experience. His work comments on conflicts, political issues and social disparities. Some pieces can be quite confronting, others heartfelt, but all have a clear message and are thought-providing.

Uğur’s work forces us to rethink our privilege and remind us that we need to think, feel and act beyond our own immediate cultural experience.

And that many children worldwide need a voice, recognition and help.

Volunteers help a refugee man and baby as refugees hoping to cross into Europe, arrive on the shore of Greece‘s Lesbos Island after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey on November, 2015. Image: @ugurgallen. Photo: Özge Elif Kızıl @oekizil @anadoluajansi

See more of Uğur’s work on Instagram -it is well worth checking out.

All images are created by Uğur Gallenkuş.

23/03/201913/04/2019

Bicycle math in primary school

We all know that bicycles have a direct positive impact on quality of life.

There are umpteen ways bicycles improve our lives: health, fitness, environmental, friendships, mental health, transport, employment opportunities, leisure, competition, and travel are just a few.

Bicycles can also play a key role in education and intellectual development.

Bicycles are increasingly being used in teaching and learning. For young learners, bicycles are familiar, yet have a complex technical component that makes their design, engineering and physics unique – also also perfect for math-related learning!

Previously, we have looked at how bicycles are used in higher education:

But it is also good to see bicycles being integrated into primary school math classes. Online, a number of proactive and innovative teachers have created and freely share their bicycle-related math lessons.

There are so many ways to improve numeracy and problem-solving skills using bicycles.

It is impressive to see how bicycles can be used to learn key math principles like patterns and algebra, fractions, decimals and percentages, angles, units of measurement, place value, operations, location and transformation, problem-solving, chance, shape, graphs and data, mathematics investigations and numbers skills – especailly at hte primary levels.

Designing a bicycle Helmet – 4^th grade

One of the more novel bicycle math resources I saw was for 4^th graders to learn about bike helmet design. I like this lesson, becuase it was not just about counting bicycle icons, but actually using different aspects of bicycle riding to explore a range of math concepts with early learners.

This resource came fromTeaching Engineering – STEM curriculum K-12. It designed by Making the Connection, Women in Engineering Programs and Advocates Network (WEPAN).

For this piece of work, students gain experience of the engineering principles needed to design safety gear. Students are introduced to the biomechanical characteristics of helmets, and are challenged to incorporate them into designs for helmets used for various applications. By doing this, they come to understand the role of engineering associated with safety products. To do this effectively, helmets must have some sort of crushable material to absorb the collision forces and a strap system to make sure the protection stays in place. The exact design of a helmet depends on the needs and specifications of the user.

This comprehensive resource also includes info on Engineering principles, learning objectives, educational standards justification, materials and a whole heap of worksheets exploring different aspects of helmet design.

Bicycle math in primary schools

There are also heaps of worksheets and online quizzes that can be used in class or for homework to reinforce and practice key math skills like multiplication, addition, fractions and calculating speeds, distances and other measurements.

Here are just a few examples:

Below are some examples of how bicycles are being used for primary school math. What a great way to promote bicycles and learn math!

I certainly would have been more engaged in my early math classes if we applied what we were learning to ‘real world’ scenarios with something as familiar, fun and useful as bicycles.

I’d love to see more bicycles being used in school curriculum!

26/02/201717/06/2018

Boys Backyard MTB Track

This post is an interview I had with Xavier and Will, two young friends who live in a Victorian country town about 1.5 hours out of Melbourne. I have been staying with family and happened to spot these two industrious lads out in a yard with shovels ablaze and bikes strewn close by, so I went to see what they were working on. We got chatting and I was impressed with their initiative and thoughtfulness in constructing their own backyard MTB track given their limited resources. The following interview details what we discussed. Thanks to the parents of both boys for permission to publish this story.

Two young friends make their own backyard MTB track

How long have you been living in this town?

Seven years ago Xavier moved here from another town. He was already riding up there and had started riding a motorbike when he was two or three.

Will was given a pushbike when he was three and still has the same bike and has been riding ever since. We like riding in the street and testing out our new bikes.

How long have you two been friends for?

Since grade one – which was in 2013. So we have been friends four years.

Why did you make the mountain bike track?

We did have a few bike tracks but they all got washed away in the floods. So we decided to make our own just for us. We also made it for guests to have fun – and because it is in the backyard and not near the river like the other few before, this one won’t get washed away.

We just used all scraps from here and there are got some shovels and just got started.

How many bike tracks have you made?

We decided to have one main one before we had this area, it went all around the garden. We did it just to do big holes in the ground and do rallies down and jumps on. Now we’re not really like jumping, we’re doing more skills and obstacle stuff which is more advanced.

Do any adults help you make the tracks? No, only our neighbour does (kid the same age).

Do any other kids ride your tracks or help? Not without our permission, since it is on our property.

How did you decide on the design of the track?

Designing the track meant that we got the ideas from our heads and talked about it. Then we started playing with ideas and decided what were the good ideas and put those into the track. Then we had something there with the things we wanted and we just keep going. We also used our prior knowledge from magazines and we have experience scootering (riding scooters). We also got some ideas from skate parks. Then we just made it!

How long did it take you to make it?

Well before we were both here we worked a little bit on the track, but we were just mucking around. The next time we really got started. The track has moved a few times, but now it is in Will’s backyard so we don’t have to move it again and we can work on it anytime we want to. When we started, it probably took us two hours to get the main loop in, but we still work on it and change it – like today we spent an hour fixing up the rock garden and making a log bridge. We still haven’t finished and there is still a bit more to come.

The track started happening really when there was the start of a berm and we wanted to have a rough time (make it rougher). So we started using wood pallets then we have some whoops to work the bike’s suspension and then included starting points and finishing points.

What are the skills you wanted to practice? Why did you put those obstacles in? What is that you will achieve? We want to practice our balance, remembering all our manoeuvres and just have fun. We are going to need to practice in case we need these skills for when we go riding on the volcanos nearby. There are a few tracks around the mountains here and they go over and around the volcanos in this area, so you need to be prepared to ride volcanoes with these kinds of skills.

Why do you like riding bikes? Well to keep fit and generally keep your heart rate up and for just having fun. It can be useful from time to time – say someone needs to get to a bus station or from the train station to another train station. Or just around town. We actually use the bikes quite a bit. Then there are the days we can always go bike riding. Mt Tarrengower has got a really cool bike track. We also do trips down to the shops, so maybe mum needs some milk. So I ride down to the IGA and buy the milk and return it to her.

Here are some key parts of the track

Sand on LHS is being developed into a berm – lead into the rock garden

The rock garden

I love this story. I find it very heartening that young boys are self-initialising such a productive, healthy and creative venture – as adults I think we need to encourage such activities. I love that the families of both boys were super supportive and encouraging of their ventures as well – what great role models for others. This skills track is not only a great way to develop bike skills, keep fit and cement a friendship, but it is also a brilliant example of two young mates working cooperatively to build something original and solely suited to their own needs. I love that materials, know-how and fun were just applied without any limiting self-doubt – and the results more so enjoyed as a result. The origin of having their own ideas melding it with their experience at scooter/skate parks and ideas from magazines demonstrates how trusting and confident they both are – of themselves and each other.

The resilience, creativity and practical application of putting this track together, which may seem basic to some, is a fantastic example of perseverance, following through with an idea and trusting yourself (and/or a mate) to work on a project together and see it through. I like how these boys demonstrate the willingness to put the work into a project – and to just make it happen.

Now that they have the main part of the track established, Will and Xavier will be able to develop and modify it to suit their skills and interests as they develop. I see this track as a great accomplishment. I don’t know many adults that are this industrious, proactive and collaborative in progressing their friendship and love of bikes. A valuable and quietly inspirational lesson for us all.

Best of luck to the friendship of Will and Xavier – and for their future track building and bike riding adventures! NG.