BEN in the news...

So, one of South Africa's cycling magazines, Ride Magazine, just did an article featuring BEN Namibia...it's a pretty sweet article, checkity check it out:

BEN there, not done that

"The wheels of bicycle empowerment in South Africa have become so entangled in red tape that nothing much has happened lately, but fortunately such initiatives are not just going ahead, but actually gaining speed in neighboring countries. According to a report by Tanja Bause, which appeared in The Namibian, the Bicycling Empowerment Network Namibia (BEN Namibia) was started in 2005, mainly in support of the volunteers who provide home-based care for HIV-AIDS sufferers. Nowadays many volunteer organizations benefit from the bicycles discarded in other parts of the world, which sometimes offer the only viable transport solution available to them in remote and poverty stricken rural areas. BEN Namibia overcame challenges of cost, distribution and maintenance with help from the Canadian organization, Bicycles for Humanity, that has helped them establish Bicycle Empowering Centres (BECs) in a number of the remote rural centres, where this type of assistance is most needed.

A BEC is recycled shipping container, which is filled with about 300 donated second hand bicycles, as well as the spare parts and tools required to overhaul, service and maintain them. Volunteers from the local communities (mostly women) are trained to work as bicycle mechanics, and they are then able to distribute the bikes to volunteers, or sell them to the local community at an affordable price. This model has worked particularly well at Okathitu, near Outapi, where the BEC, run by an Anglican HIV-AIDS home-based care group, has not only distributed bicycles to volunteers and HIV-AIDS orphans traveling to school but also generated enough money to plant food to feed the children and improve their access to schooling.

According to the latest BEN Namibia newsletter; there are now 9 BECs, and 7000 bicycles have already been distributed by the organization. The target for 2009 is 10000 bicycles. Of particular interest, are the bicycle ambulances (basically a stretcher on wheels, pulled by a bicycle) of which there are already 106 in the field, and many more needed. Several top Namibian cyclists are patrons of BEN – remember when Dan Craven managed to win a race on his BEN bike? – and their example helps to bridge the divide between the bicycle as a transport option, and the pampered world of recreational and professional cycling. Visit www.benbikes.org.za/namibia for more details about the work of this dynamic organization."