The Need 

The distance for girls travelling to and from school in remote areas of countries such as Tanzania is typically over 6 km one way.  Not only is the distance a deterrent for them, the trip is unsafe.  Girls may be attacked and raped as they walk between their home and the schools, usually after dark.  The schools are struggling to reduce lost school days from illness, fatigue and a high number of teenage pregnancies.  Females are already at a disadvantage for education because they are responsible for much of the home care, but this added challenge makes it very difficult for girls to become educated in these types of environments.

Bicycles for Girls

In late 2020, the Modesto Sunrise Rotary Club in California contributed funding to a project in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Arusha (RCA) in Tanzania.  The project is known as the Pink Bike Project and provides bicycles to girls travelling to school and from school from remote villages. 

The Rotary Club of London Hyde Park’s (RCLHP) International Committee read about the Pink Bike Project and decided it would be a worthwhile cause for additional funding.  The RCA Project Director, Rosemary Davidson, along with the club President Samanta Button were contacted and met with on two different occasions by Zoom to organize the logistics.  We learned that the Rotary Club of Arusha had already worked with ABC Bicycles for the Project with the Modesto Sunrise Club so elected to work with them again for the bicycles to be purchased by RCLHP. 

Rosemary and Samantha from RCA, as well as a representative from ABC Bicycles visited 5 different schools in the area that might benefit from the donation of bicycles.  Based on some specific criteria, Olmoti Secondary School was selected.  Olmoti Secondary is a Government school. It is Mixed (Contain both Boys and Girls) School. The Registration number of the school is S.4929 with NECTA Exam Centre Number of S5518.

The cost

The cost of each bicycle is 175,000 Tanzanian shillings, equivalent to approximately 100 Canadian dollars.  With the $2000 Canadian dollars RCHP donated, we agreed to purchase 15 bicycles.  The remaining $500 would be used for transporting the bicycles to the school and for ongoing maintenance.

The Result

Below are some photos of  the bicycles, painted pink so the community knows that they are part of this project, as well as the girls in Tanzania getting their bicycles from the projects done in 2020.