Mission, vision & strategy
Our mission in this project is to train youth who have already shown interest in bicycles and cycling to become bicycle mechanics to repair bicycles and/or teach the English language to guide tourists by bicycle, also and especially girls as they are the cornerstone of the family/society, thus allowing them to generate income to support their community/family.
Our vision and what we want to grow towards is to have about 15 bicycle mechanics trained by our partner Love Africa Adventures by the end of 2023 who can independently repair bicycles for local people across Rwanda, southwestern Burundi and northeastern Uganda and the Goma region (DRC). Bicycles are the main means of transport in Rwanda for the poorer and middle-class population. So maintenance and repair is very important. We would also provide 9 bicycles to the Love Africa Adventures social enterprise so that they can lend them to people in need of a means of transport;(e.g. to transport agricultural crops or further travel) and possibly lend them to tourists to explore the region.
Also, some of the income from bike rental, bike repairs and accompanying tourists by bike will flow back to the cycling community to provide training and purchase further equipment.
The trained youth come from 5 cycling clubs namely:
– Goma Cycling club(DRC)
– Tropical Heat Cycling Academy(Uganda)
– Burgesa Cycling Team(Rwanda)
– Benediciton Cycling Ladies(Rwanda)
– Masaka Cycling Club(Uganda)
The trained bicycle mechanics, besides generating an income for themselves, will also invest a piece back into the cycling community. Cycling is the main means of transport in Rwanda and neighbouring countries, so the demand for bicycle maintenance and
repair is high, also because there are currently few, if any, truly trained bicycle mechanics and the tool materials to work on bicycles are also not available. Furthermore, the enthusiasm in the region for cycling will increase dramatically with the World Cycling Championships being awarded to Kigali in 2025.
https://sporza.be/nl/2021/09/23/wk-wielrennen-2025-rwanda~1632386301689/
Visit to the Bugesera school in Rwanda supported and established by the Gasore Serge Foundation, which educates underprivileged and young people from dislocated families, teaching young people a trade and a sport in addition to general education. One such sport taught is cycling.
The young people who have chosen the sport of cycling at the Bugesera school and are now part of the cycling club Bugesera Cycling. Some of them will be trained as bicycle mechanics and taught the English language through our project.
Visit to the cycling club Benediction cycling2019, some of whose youngsters will also be included in our project.
Love Africa Adventures is a Rwandan social enterprise with several objectives;
- Providing training to repair bicycles.
- Teaching English to guide tourists.
- Guiding tourists through Rwanda by bicycle.
- Lending bicycles to the less fortunate in need.
- Repair bicycles.
- Teaching local people to ride bicycles.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFwSoS0BGGo/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGCt6cNhTOd/
With training, material knowledge, and good bicycles, they offer a solution to the transport needs for local people and cycling tourists. This with respect for locals and the ecological footprint!
Sandrine from Love Africa Adventures (1st from left) repairing bicycles from/to locals.
