Bicycles For Humanity

Bicycles for Humanity is a grassroots organisation that takes disused bikes and put them to great use in developing countries. Much of their current work is being done in Namibia with the Bicycle Empowerment Network(BEN). The shipping container which the bikes arrive in is turned into a bike workshop in the community in which it is placed. The work shop provides skills training and business opportunties while the bike are distributed to remote HIV/AIDS care workers who typically have to walk huge distances in their work.

There are B4H chapters world wide. Go see where your nearest one is and donate your old bike, your time and any other resources for this great initiative.

25% of all revenue from the a salecycling on this site goes to our supported charities of which Bicycles for Humanity is the first. Do some good.

B4H Melbourne thanks its current sponsors.

The Problem

Can you imagine the next week of your life with no transport other than walking? Can you also imagine the vast majority of the people in your city or region with no transport–the postal service, the police and ambulance, the delivery service that stocks your supermarket?

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Africa By Bike

In the first of our Great Rides series we feature Ross Hopkins story of one day in their epic 10,500km ride from Ethiopia to South Africa.

Having completed bicycle tours in Scandinavia, South America, South East Asia and New Zealand, Africa loomed as the next big adventure. After months of planning and preparation, on December 29 2006 we landed in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. This was to be our starting point for our African bike trip. Travelling by bike to us is the ultimate in freedom and adventure. We both share a love of experiencing different cultures from the saddle of our bike, and although we knew Africa would be the most challenging yet, nothing could prepare us for what we endured throughout our 7 months cycling through Africa. It pushed us to the limit of our physical and emotional boundaries and nearly broke us.But it was living a dream. It was an opportunity to escape our cultural cocoon in which we live.

It was an adventure and it was real.So nothing can really compare to the wave of relief and sense of independence we felt when we cycled out of Addis Ababa. The daunting prospect of having ¾ of the African continent ahead of us was a distant second to the feeling of pure freedom.The excitement of being in an unknown land with everything we needed on our bikes made us feel alive. The adventure had begun. To describe our trip in a short space is merely impossible. Every single day provided us with memorable adventures, intriguing encounters, unique scenery and a new glimpse into the remarkable life of Africa. So rather than try and describe our 7 months and 10,500km through 11 African countries, I have instead included one of my journal entries written on the day we crossed from Rwanda into Tanzania.

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