Pedals for Progress.

• Author: Bonilla, Reykha
• Position: !Ojo!

EVERY DAY, MILLIONS of the world's working poor are forced to cover great distances on foot. They must walk to work, to markets, to health centers, and to schools. Many of these destinations are hours away so it's difficult to get there at all. It's an oppressive way to live.

Founded in 1991, by former Peace Corps Volunteer David Schweidenback, Pedals for Progress (P4P) collects used bicycles and ships them to nonprofit partners overseas. The partners sell the bicycles at a fraction of their local market value so the poorest people can afford them. Tiffs, in turn, generates funds for subsequent shipments and other community improvements, such as water filtration plants and the construction of hospitals and schools. The first container of bicycles shipped to a partner also generates the start-up capital for a bicycle shop, which in a community that suddenly has 400 bikes is an absolute necessity. The shop is also a new source of permanent employment for several people.

Pedals for Progress has shipped nearly 110,000 bicycles to 28 countries around the world. Each container of 400 bicycles creates ten full-time jobs and provides 400 families with affordable and environmentally sound transportation. In a 1997 study in Nicaragua, P4P found that people who acquired the bicycles increased their income by 14 percent on average.

In addition to bicycles, P4P also collects and ships used sewing machines. While a bicycle typically provides the means to get to a job, a sewing machine creates a job. This newer project, Treadles for Progress, works in tandem with the bicycles, since the room left in a shipping container filled with bikes is just enough space for several sewing machines.

P4P's very first shipment went to Nicaragua. Since then, 74 percent of all P4P bikes have gone to Latin American partners. Latin America remains an ideal shipping destination for P4P due to its ample ports and close proximity to the United States.

The economic and social benefits of bicycles in these communities are immediate and varied. In Panama City, students traveling between work and school now make the trip in half the time it took by bus, and they save the fare. In Honduras, P4P bikes were used to increase police mobility and their ability to respond to the needs of the community. in El Salvador, land mine victims were trained in a marketable trade--bicycle repair. Every bike that P4P ships is accompanied by a success story.

Joel Pena is a truck driver in Jinotepe...