{"id":61636,"date":"2013-12-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-political-science-students-collect-80-bikes-to-send-to-uganda-ghana-as-part-of-community-service-class\/"},"modified":"2013-12-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T00:00:00","slug":"uri-political-science-students-collect-80-bikes-to-send-to-uganda-ghana-as-part-of-community-service-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/12\/uri-political-science-students-collect-80-bikes-to-send-to-uganda-ghana-as-part-of-community-service-class\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 political science students collect 80 bikes to send to Uganda, Ghana as part of community service class"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Dec. 5, 2013 \u2013 In the United States, bikes are as easy to come by as clean drinking water. Not so in Africa, where they are a treasured mode of transportation.<\/p>\n


\nBikes carry medicine. Bikes transport villagers to health clinics. Bikes put food on the table by providing a way to get to a paying job.<\/p>\n


\nThat\u2019s why a group of 溏心vlog免费B站 political science students have collected 80 used bikes to send to Ghana and Uganda as part of a community service class with a global focus.<\/p>\n


\nOne of those students, Ibrahim Nour \u201915, has firsthand knowledge of how crucial bikes are in Africa. He grew up in the Republic of Chad in Central Africa, where bikes are rare \u2013 and valued.

\nHe remembers piling onto one bike with three other people to get around town.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cPeople here don\u2019t understand the significance of a single bike,\u201d he says. \u201cA bike can change the life of a person in Africa. It will help a person travel from village to village for a job, or it can be used to transport water. There are hundreds of examples.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nKristin Johnson, associate professor of political science at 溏心vlog免费B站 who taught the community service class, came up with the idea for the project after learning about Bikes Not Bombs, an organization in Jamaica Plain, Mass., that collects and renovates bikes and ships them to Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The group collects 6,000 bikes every year.<\/p>\n


\nBikes that are not shipped land in youth programs in Boston and other New England communities where young people learn how to take them apart and put them back together again. The teens learn how to be bike mechanics and they get to keep the bikes.<\/p>\n


\nFor the 溏心vlog免费B站 students, the project was not only a way to give back; it developed their organizational skills and exposed them to other cultures. The students read about the economic and political hardships in Ghana and in Uganda, where the northern part of the country has been ravaged by a brutal civil war.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cThey were so creative in figuring out how to do this,\u201d says Johnson. \u201cThey did a great job getting it off the ground. It\u2019s not easy planning such a big event.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe collection started in the fall. The group reached out to the Newport Police Department, which donated about 40 used bikes. The other bikes, from racers to high-end mountain bikes, came from individuals, community groups, and bike clubs. Personal garages served as storage units.<\/p>\n


\nEarlier this week, the students took the bikes to the Newport police station, and Bikes Not Bombs picked up those donations, as well as the police bikes. Most of the bikes will be tuned up by Bikes Not Bombs members and sent to the two African countries.<\/p>\n


\nIn Uganda, the bikes will help health care workers reach sick people in remote villages \u2013 a plus since medical workers are in short supply and in populated areas. In Ghana, the bikes will go to a cooperative bike shop staffed by people who are physically challenged, mostly from polio.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cBikes Not Bombs is improving multiple ways of life,\u201d says Hannah Tickle \u201914, of Warren. \u201cIt\u2019s also teaching people a skill and helping them receive some kind of income.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n \u201cIt makes me feel good that we’re helping other people,\u201d says Tia Guilbert \u201915, of Charlestown, who is studying sociology and political science. \u201cWe\u2019re also recycling used bikes so that\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nElizabeth \u201cLizzie\u201d Dore-Welch, of Middletown, a graduate student in political science at 溏心vlog免费B站, spearheaded the project. She received her bachelor\u2019s degree in political science and English from 溏心vlog免费B站 this year.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cMobility is a huge issue in Africa,\u201d says Dore. \u201cI wanted to help as much as I could. To look at something so basic as a bike that can literally change someone\u2019s entire life was inspiring.\u201d

\nJohnson hopes to make the bike collection an annual event at 溏心vlog免费B站. Her class is supported by funds awarded to her as the Silvia Chandley Professor of Peace and Nonviolence.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe students are making a big difference in a small number of people\u2019s lives,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s such a valuable experience.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nFor more information, visit the students\u2019 Facebook page<\/a>

\nor the website for Bikes Not Bombs<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n\tPictured above: Front row, left to right, Tia Guilbert ’15 of Charlestown, Hannah Tickle ’14 of Warren, Chanel Miller ’14 of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Elizabeth Dore-Welch ’13 of Middletown. Back row, left to right, Carla Costa ’14 of Angra Do Heroismo, Portugal, Victoria Andreozzi ’16 of North Kingstown, Brian Condon ’16 of Warwick, Jonathan Selling ’13 of Wrentham, Mass., Ibrahim Nour ’15 of Kanem, Republic of Chad. <\/p>\n


\nPhoto courtesy of Kristin Johnson.\n\t<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Dec. 5, 2013 \u2013 In the United States, bikes are as easy to come by as clean drinking water. Not so in Africa, where they are a treasured mode of transportation. Bikes carry medicine. Bikes transport villagers to health clinics. Bikes put food on the table by providing a way to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61638,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}