The ninth mission organized by Bikes for Africa last from April to June. The beginning  of the mission took its place in April when 600 donated and repaired bicycles were loaded up in Ostrava, Czech Republic. The shipping of two containers also consisted of 100 banana boxes with spare parts and 10 service tool boxes for Gambian partner schools and their mechanics. Containers were sent for a month journey with a support of an school activity called Snowmen for Africa and also supporting by Czech Development Cooperation through The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Accra, Ghana.

Before donation arrived to Gambia, six partner schools were selected to join the project. In a small West African country children of 66 schools in total use donated bicycles on their way to school. With offloading bicycles to the warehouse in Gunjur and the preparation for handing over assisted local students from Bun Jeng School. Some of the bicycles were distributed to the new schools and the rest of bicycles to the current partner schools. In addition, 200 yellow vests from Altima have also been distributed to selected schools to increase the safety of children traveling to schools where children arrive from afternoon shifts in the dark time.

Prior to the handing over the school management and new school mechanics were trained. By providing such training the organisation Kola pro Afriku supports the sustainability of the project. The school mechanics received tool boxes during training. The Gambian Coordinator, Yunus S. Komma, led training for all participants. In addition to 600 bikes loaded and shipped in April, a further 200 bikes were distributed (the bikes from the 2016 autumn mission). In total, 800 bicycles were donated in to 12 schools during spring mission 2017.

Author: Bikes for Africa