Mike's Bikes Africa

A check-in from Tumi

Mar 092013

Just received the latest report from Tumi, along with some new pictures. When he has proper supply of bikes, Tumi’s business is absolutely cooking. But between container arrivals, the shortage of bikes really puts a strain on the operation. Overall, the business is healthy and continues to employ Tumi, his wife, his mother, and two mechanics. Please help us spread the word about the Africa Bike Drive – keeping up with the demand for bikes in Africa continues to be a challenge.

This customer of Tumi’s is using his bike to transport a very heavy bag of maize.

Tumi visits regularly with his competition across town. This shop just popped up last year, and to see that demand is so great that the community can support a second bike shop is a validation of all the hard work that’s gone into developing a bike culture in Maseru.

Songo to the rescue!

Our Fertile Ground No Responses »

Mar 092013

The next batch of 20 bikes (all donated by Mike’s Bikes customers in California) for the kids at Our Fertile Ground were all prepped, packed and ready for the journey from our facility in Gaborone down to Cape Town. We should have had plenty of time to spare before the big event, but alas, in Africa, that often doesn’t mean much.

True to form, the bikes sat on a truck waiting for border clearance for more than a week. The kids from the Our Fertile Ground youth program were so excited to raise funds for their camp by riding the Cape Argus. But the border delays cost so much time that the bikes were not going to arrive there before the event – finding a solution was necessary. Paul and Robert turned to Songo, a very well known bike organization near Stellenbosch, for help. Songo’s group committed to loan 20 bikes for the kids to ride the Cape Argus. It was a very stressful situation for all involved, but it seems to finally worked out in the end.

We’re all looking forward to seeing how the 25 Fertile Ground riders do at the Argus – So very proud of all of them!

First 5 bikes arrive at Our Fertile Ground in South Africa

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Feb 102013

Our friends at Our Fertile Ground in Cape Town can start training for the upcoming Cape Argus ride, where they’ll be raising funds for their great project, centered around a youth program for kids with HIV and AIDS. The kids who want to do the ride have no bikes, so camp founder Robert Shea requested 5 bikes from our Foundation. Naturally, we obliged, and the first 5 bikes just arrived in Cape Town and have been assembled and tuned. Training can now begin for the Argus, which is fast approaching on March 10.

The response and support from the other kids in the program has been so overwhelming that Robert quickly requested another bikes, which we now have en route from our most recent container of donated bikes in Botswana.

Robert and his family have such an amazing and selfless program at Our Fertile Ground, and we’re honored to be a part of it.

Check out our recent interview with Robert on KGO-7:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=8945500&pid=8945527