Why Bikes
In the UK, thousands of bikes are thrown away or lie unused in sheds and garages, whilst many people in Africa have no access to transport of any kind. For some people living in parts of rural Africa, the average time spent walking to school, work, or collecting water can be four hours a day.
A bicycle lightens this burden and cuts travel time to a fraction, which dramatically improves an individual’s health and wellbeing as well as work and education opportunities, helping to bring social change. It can be used to carry passengers and heavy loads. Bikes give families the extra time to earn, learn and enjoy life.
How Re-Cycle helps
Bikes are resilient, cheap to buy and cost nothing to run. They can be maintained by trained repairers and can be used by the entire
family. We create an opportunity for good quality re-cycled bikes to be re-used and sent to some of the most rural communities in Africa.
Sending bikes is not all we do – we manage projects which help specific people or which help the bikes we send to be sustainable.
649 million people
live within rural
communities in Africa
‘That’s a population
10 times the size of the UK’
Most of those people lack any
form of transport and spend
hours walking each day
Giving people more time to earn, learn and enjoy life
Education
Bikes help to keep children in school.
A bicycle can cut journey times by as much as 75% which means students can travel in safety to and from school with energy left to learn and time left to rest.
Livelihoods
A bike can increase the income of a family in Africa by 35% Anything traded, must be transported. A bike opens up lots of possibilities to traders.
Health
Diseases from dirty water kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. A bike can help a single person carry 5 times the amount of clean water.
