velafrica - Swiss bikes in Africa
Tanzania, Nshamba
07.03.2017
Nyakatanga Secondary School. Bike to shool program. Students who have a very long way to school of 2-3 hours receive a Swiss bike from the Vijana Bicycle Center at a reduced price.
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Tanzania, Nshamba
06.03.2017
Ernest Mwijage, works as a water salesman. He has received a Swiss mountain bike from the Vijana Bicycle Center VBC for 60 USD which he pays in installments. He loves his job. He has always work and is respected. He can no longer imagine life without a bike. He wants his children to be able to go to school, for which he works hard.
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Tanzania, Nshamba
09.03.2017
In the Vijana Bicycle Center VBC, Swiss bicycles are prepared for sale and bicycles are repaired by customers. Thanks to the large warehouse, a replacement for the broken bicycle bell is quickly found.
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Tanzania, Nshamba
06.03.2017
The bicycle mechanic Respicius Martine teaches the four apprentices. Two months ago they started their two-year vocational training as bicycle mechanics at the Vijana Bicycle Center VBC. From the left: Godson Godfride, Remigius Deusderith, Laurent Lucas and Leah Evangelin.
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Tanzania, Nshamba
07.03.2017
Jospina Fidia, priestess in front of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kashasha. Thanks to her Swiss Allegra lady bike, she saves a lot of time when she visits sick and needy people at home.
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Tanzania, Nshamba
07.03.2017
Evodia Everister, (middle) is 17 years old and attends the Nyakatanga Secondary School. Thanks to the support of Velafrica, her parents were able to buy the Swiss bicycle at the Vijana Bicycle Center at a 40% discount. Evodia loves her bike more than anything. Her way to school is twelve kilometres long. She used to walk for up to three hours and had to leave the house at four in the morning. Walking in the dark is dangerous and she was often punished for coming to school too late. Thanks to the bicycle she has much more time to learn and she can help her parents with cooking and collecting wood.
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Tanzania, Nshamba
08.03.2017
The water seller Ernest Mwijage, on his way to a customer on a Cilo Mountain Bike from Switzerland. In the village of Nshamba, most people have no running water in their homes. At a spring below the village, he fills 100 litres into five plastic containers and takes them by bicycle to the customers. For each delivery he receives one US dollar converted. He makes up to 15 trips a day and can feed his family.
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Tanzania, Nshamba
05.03.2017
Jadida Nura, trained as a bicycle mechanic at the Vijana Bicyle Center. Now she works as an employee of the Velo Workshop in Bukoba. The start to her professional life was tough. "Many men believed that a woman couldn't mend a bicycle. Her dream is to open her own bicycle shop one day.
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Tanzania, Nshamba
07.03.2017
Ally Makopa, farmer in Nshamba. He has just milked his cow and fills the milk into the container on the Swiss bicycle. By bicycle he brings his cows' milk to his customers.
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Tanzania, Nshamba
07.03.2017
Epienzia Sebastian, student at the APEX Secondary School, in Nshambe with her new bicycle from Switzerland. The bike with the cheese design was originally stationed at Langnau station in Emmental.
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Tanzania, Nshamba
06.03.2017
A water seller pushes his bicycle loaded with 100 litres of water on the village road of Nshamba. The recycled bicycles from Switzerland are popular in Africa. They are more robust than the bikes from China that are available on the local market and have more gears.
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Switzerland, Bern
14.03.2017
In 2016 Velafrica shipped over 22,000 bicycles to Africa. Thanks to the sophisticated stacking method, Velafrica's employees load up to 400 bicycles into the shipping containers. The containers are brought to Rotterdam by truck and shipped from there to Africa. Customers can determine the proportion of mountain bikes, women's bicycles and racing bikes themselves.
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velafrica - Swiss bikes in Africa
Velafrica collects used bikes, repairs them and ships them to Africa. Every year, more than 22,000 bicycles travel from Switzerland to the South, making life easier for people there.
Swiss bicycles make it easier for people in Africa to access education and health care and open up economic opportunities. If you have a bicycle, you can transport considerably more and cover much greater distances. There is more time to learn or to cultivate the fields.
Velafrica not only transports bicycles to Africa, but also knowledge. Together with local partners, the non-profit organisation sets up bicycle workshops, conducts training courses and trains mechanics. Jobs and income opportunities are created in bicycle assembly, repair and distribution. In Switzerland, Velafrica works with social institutions that employ unemployed people and people with health impairments. The women and men in the partner workshops repair the bicycles and prepare them for transport. Integration work in Switzerland is thus linked to development cooperation in Africa.
The recycled bicycles from Switzerland are popular in Africa. They are more robust than bicycles from China, which are available on the local market, and often cheaper. But every bike needs repair and maintenance. Velafrica therefore trains bicycle mechanics, sets up workshops and ensures the supply of spare parts and tools. Jobs, training and income opportunities are created in the region. The population gains access to cheap and stable bicycles.
Velafrica works with local partners from planning to implementation. The goals are defined jointly. Both sides take responsibility for the success of the project. This also means that the bicycles are not given away but sold at a symbolic price. This avoids one-sided dependencies, strengthens the economic side and does not undermine the local bicycle industry.
Velafrica's partner in Tanzania, Nshamba, is the Vijana Bicycle Center (VBC). AIDS orphans learn and work in the VBC bicycle workshop of the youth centre. Since 2011, 37 young men and women have completed their training in bicycle mechanics. Swiss bicycles are sold under revised and controlled conditions. The profit flows back into the business or into a solidarity fund.
Further information: www.velafrica.ch
Reportage im Auftrag des Magazins «Schweizer Familie» als PDF
