Category Archives: Peace Corps

Peace Corps, Sewing Partners, St. Vincent

Thank you David & Pedals for Progress!

by Liz Deppe

The gracious donation of 20 sewing machines from P4P to the Barrouallie Secondary School in St. Vincent has opened many doors for many students. We have been able to integrate sewing into the school art curriculum, which allows students to learn a new skill which they can carry through their entire lives. Although the program has just started, it is obvious that many students will use and grow their sewing skills as time goes on, it may even (hopefully!) open job opportunities for some.

We have also been able to use the sewing machines in extra curricular settings. The younger students have enjoyed making projects during 4H. They not only learned how to sew, but created various projects out of fused plastic bags, learning the value of recycling. This was the first project we did using the sewing machines with the younger students and it was a great success. The machines were also used at a summer camp, where the campers created bags out of old flour sacks once again learning sewing skills and the values of recycling.

I cannot begin to thank David and P4P for the kind generosity. The students’ excitement and eagerness has guided our program to a wonderful start. I cannot wait to see how it grows! Thank you David & Pedals for Progress!

Liz Deppe
U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
2011-2013

Peace Corps, Sewing Partners, St. Vincent

20 Sewing Machines Sent to St. Vincent 5/12/11

My name is Elizabeth Deppe. I am an American, but am currently serving as a volunteer in St. Vincent for two years. I am volunteering at Barrouallie Secondary School. The school has students ranging from age 12 to 18 and serves over 500 students. Universal Education is fairly new to St. Vincent, so many students that may have not otherwise been accepted to a secondary school are now able to attend. Many students are the first in their family to attend a secondary school.

As a volunteer with the school, I am helping in the areas of literacy and art education. I feel extremely blessed to be working with the students, the principal and the faculty. They are incredibly hard working and as their motto states, Striving Ever Higher. A major problem facing students in St. Vincent is a lack of resources. Many students are dedicated and hard working, but cannot learn certain trades and skills simply because there is no access. For example, students must purchase their own supplies for art classes because there is not enough money to fund art supplies. As an art education volunteer, this can become extremely heart breaking and frustrating when only a small fraction of the class is able to purchase the recommended supplies for a certain project.

The Principal, current art teacher and I are working on creating an art program that teaches the students skills they can use, possibly to make some sort of income, in the future. We would love to introduce machine sewing to the students as it would be a great way for them to learn creative expression and a wonderful skill for them to have later in life. There is a lack of jobs in St. Vincent, and sewing would allow students to create their own small businesses. Students could create souvenir items that they could market to tourists. Students could also learn to create everyday items and clothing that they could sell to other Vincentians.

Sewing would also serve as a creative outlet for the students. Many students are faced with difficult family situations and learning an alternative way to share their feelings would be a great resource for them. Learning creativity through sewing will also teach the students problem solving skills and to look at situations in a new way.

A donation of sewing machines would be a great asset to the students and the community of Barrouallie. The students will not only have fun, they will also learn a new skill and stretch their creativity and imaginations. If you believe this project may be something that Pedals for Progress is interested in working with I would love to further discuss the school and the situation with you.

Thank you for your time and consideration.
Liz Deppe
U.S. Peace Corps (St. Vincent)

Business, Ecuador, Peace Corps

High Bridge man lifts thousands out of poverty

By DEB DAWSON, Editor, Recorder Community Newspapers

Posted: Thursday, February 10, 2011

HIGH BRIDGE, New Jersey – David Schweidenback, 58, is a man who really loves his job. He doesn’t just love it — Pedals for Progress (P4P) is his 20-year-old baby. He nurtures it daily, and is proud of its accomplishments.

The nonprofit organization he launched in the Feb. 11, 1991, edition of the Hunterdon Review has come a long way since then.

To date, it has helped to bring 130,000 people out of poverty by providing them with the means to get to a job, or even create one, using bicycles.

“I had a really good idea one day, and I acted upon it. And, rather than control it, I distributed it. Gave everybody else my idea, so they could go out and do what needs to be done,” said Schweidenback.

So now, in addition to Pedals for Progress, there are 70 similar organizations in 15 countries that do what he does – collect bicycles, some in need of minor repairs, fix them, and ship them to developing countries to be sold to folks who really want to make a buck, but have no way to do it.

Those organizations account for another 130,000 bikes – 260,000 in all.

P4P is the brain child of this returned Peace Corps volunteer who saw for himself during his time serving in Ecuador just how much two wheels can mean.

Back in 1991, Schweidenback was focused on Sucua, Ecuador, his former Peace Corps service station.

“I was going to collect 12 bikes. I got 140. I was going to ship them all to Sucua, but the Ecuadorian government wouldn’t let me in.”

Why? “It’s good to be king,” he said. “The people on top were very happy with the way life was working. There are two types of countries: (1) The people on top are happy they’re on top. (2) The government wants to see some comprehensive change – see their people have a better life and move on and get better.

“At the end of the day, it’s their country. You can suggest, but you can’t mandate. I used to take it very hard. I used to want to say, ‘Can’t you see what happened in China?’” where bicycles once proliferated. Now Schweidenback says the Chinese want everyone to have a car.

“For several developing nations without much money, with a developing lower class, the elimination of poverty is always a decision. To get out of poverty, you have to get a job. There’s always work to be done.

“In these developing countries, most people are underemployed because of where they live relative to where work is available. If you make $2 a day, you’re not going to go out and take public transportation.”

He explained that in agrarian communities in third-world countries, the people have to get to the road from where they live – which is usually down a path maybe five miles away.

“They’re great farmers. They load a bike with produce and push it to the road where they can sell it. Without a bike, a lot of crops rot, because they can’t get it to the road.”

In Uganda, the average person lives four miles from safe, potable water. “People have 10-gallon jerry cans they fill with water and hang on either side of the back wheel, then put two cans on top. These guys go to the well and push water to customers for a living. They deliver water to people’s houses.”

P4P has shipped 19,000 bicycles to Rivas, Nicaragua, since 1992 and the city has created an infrastructure for the bicycles. The organization still sells about 200 bikes there annually.

In Rivas, Schweidenback said whole families commute on one bike. The father or mother may ride the children to school on the bicycle on the way to work, then pick them up on the way home. This has enabled the population to become more educated.

“By the time you’re 13 years old, you’re an adult with adult responsibilities. You’d go to school through the fourth or fifth grade and the necessities of life would come along,” said Schweidenback. Now students can ride instead of walk the five miles to and from school, which takes less time, and they can still do their chores when they get home.

But, Schweidenback does not believe the bikes should be given away. “People don’t take care of things they’re given. People take care of things they earn. If you give away, you create paternalism. We’re trying to create a more vibrant economic system where these people can help themselves. The average recipient has a 15 percent increase in income the first week they get a bike.”

Bikes are usually collected through drives given by church youth groups, rescue squads, fire companies and the like.

Every bicycle costs P4P about $35 from collection to delivery to the final owner. People who donate bikes also donate a minimum of $10 to P4P to help pay for repairs and shipping. P4P gets about $12 per bike from its overseas partners, who sell bikes for an average of $15.

“The last $13 I get from general begging and groveling,” he said. “We’re a charity. We exist by the giving of people who believe in our mission. There are about 5,000 on our mailing list. We go to them a couple of times a year. I’m a professional beggar.”

The partners who actually sell the bikes need to retain some of the money for a storefront, a warehouse with bars on the windows, a bike mechanic, salesperson, someone for accounting, electricity and water.

P4P has also branched out. In 1999 it began exporting used portable sewing machines to developing nations. “A sewing machine is employment for life,” Schweidenback said. “We’ve set up bunches of co-ops. We teach sewing.”

Schweidenback, who was a “2008 CNN Hero” and a “Rolex Award for Enterprise” winner, said his greatest accomplishment during these past 20 years is “survival. I’ve been through three recessions. We’re still steady, but it has never been easy.”

He thought a minute and added, “I have really had the opportunity to fulfill a dream I had to help people.”

To send a contribution, set up a bike drive, or for more information,
contact Alan Schultz at alan@p4p.org or (908) 638-8893, or visit the website at www.p4p.org.

bicycles, Peace Corps

A Recipe for Collecting Bikes in Northern Vermont

by Joanne Heidkamp
Spring 2011 InGear

The relationship between the Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (GMRPCV) and Pedals for Progress began in the summer of 1999, when David Schweidenback approached us for a donation to P4P. We donated $100 and also decided to hold Vermont’s first P4P bicycle collection. That first year we collected 88 bikes and drove them down to New Jersey in a rented U-Haul.

Green Mountain RPCVs of Vermont
Green Mountain RPCVs of Vermont

Twelve years later, the GMRPCV is still holding annual collections for P4P and, although the number of bikes varies considerably from year to year, our average collection yields 200 bikes and about $1900 for shipping, as well as many sewing machines. In the last three years we’ve added sewing machines to our outreach, and have collected many of those as well.

Here are some of the key elements that help ensure our continuing success: One huge factor is the support of the local FedEx station, which has provided free shipping from Vermont to New Jersey since 2002. The day before our collection, FedEx drops off a semi truck with four empty containers. When the collection is over, FedEx delivers the containers to New Jersey on a space-available basis. The bikes will arrive at the P4P warehouse anywhere from two weeks to two months after they’ve been collected.

Although the GMRPCV has been the main organizer of the collection each year, a number of local groups have come on board to help promote it, and also help process bikes during the four-hour event. Local Motion, a local bike–pedestrian group, has been steadfast in its support. Several regional solid waste districts have also promoted the collections on their websites and through their newsletters. And we’ve had assistance from teen organizations at high schools and congregations, and from a few local Rotary clubs.

Since the original collection, all of our outreach and announcements for the event have stressed the need for a cash donation, which is critical for shipping, along with each bike or sewing machine. Posters at the collection reinforce the idea that a donated bike is useless unless we can raise enough money to get it to our partners in the developing world, and we always remind people that if they don’t have a bike or sewing machine to donate, donating money for shipping is also a good way to get involved.

We have learned that coverage in the local newspapers is essential to getting lots of bikes donated. For a few weeks before each collection, the group sends out lots of press releases, emails, and posts on Facebook. The area’s largest newspaper, the Burlington Free Press, usually runs a photo and caption about the bike collection during the week before the event; and a number of “hometown” papers will run an article if we focus the story on a volunteer who lives in the community. We also mail a postcard to everyone who donated a bike during the collections of the previous two years. Contacting people via various email lists has also become more important with each passing year.

The group gets a big boost every year from a “one man collection” organized by Gene Bianco, who runs an independent chimney cleaning and repair business in Randolph, Vermont, about an hour from Burlington. Bianco heard about the event in 2004, and started to collect bikes and donations in his community. That first year, he arrived with 31 bikes and $310. His efforts have expanded — in 2009 his truck and trailer were loaded with 75 bikes.

bicycles, Moldova, Peace Corps, Sewing Partners

A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed

by Constantin Bandiu
Fall 2010 InGear

Pelinia is one of the largest villages in northern Moldova, with a population of over eight thousand. The main occupation for villagers is farming, which keeps most residents busy all year round. Consult-Nord was founded in 2005, with the agreement of Pelinia’s citizens, to be a voluntary, independent, self-administrated, non-political organization to undertake projects for the benefit of the population of the Pelinia region as a whole.

2010fallMoldovaTwoMenUnloadingOur association’s aims are to organize area youth and improve their socio-economic condition, to develop close relations with local, national, and international NGO partners, and to establish a closer partnership with the local public administration for more efficient community problem solving. We’ve also founded the Alliance of Community Centers of Access to Information and Training (ACCAIT), currently comprising over 100 centers across Moldova.  We are able to maintain our activities through nominal fees for our services and by fundraising from external resources.

By 2006 we were able to implement the “Local Economical Development” project. Its major aim is to eradicate local poverty and unemployment by growing Pelinia’s economic sector and developing its infrastructure by organizing the resources of the community and its citizens. In 2008, due to a partnership with Pedals for Progress, the project was able to bring a container of bicycles from the United States. The aim of this initiative was to provide the bicycles at low cost to help Pelinians solve problems such as traveling around and outside the village efficiently, carrying heavy loads to and from their fields, etc.

One of our most exciting projects has been our modern Sewing Workshop. Besides the bicycles, Pedals for Progress sent us 15 sewing machines. Last summer, with the proceeds of selling some of the bicycles and with the help of the Peace Corps in Moldova, we implemented the Sewing Workshop in the village. We prepared a room with five of the sewing machines, one industrial sewing machine, and the necessary furniture. Girls from the village were taught to perform certain sewing operations such as design and making up prototypes because these are most important in dressmaking. They studied the structure of fabrics, how to take measurements, and how to use the machines. Many of the graduates bought the machines at which they learned and now work at sewing garments for themselves, their families, and others.

Today’s economic crisis has affected us in Moldova, too. Nevertheless, we try to overcome this difficulty using patience and imagination. We don’t wait to act, we work everyday to find a way out. For instance, we have lowered the price of our bicycles to be even more affordable for those whose incomes have been reduced and need even more assistance. We’ve worked to place information and even photos on our web page — in this way we’ve expanded the assistance we are able to provide to other parts of Moldova and even into Romania.2010fallMoldovaCrewUnloading

At the end of 2009, with the money we got from selling our original shipment, we had funds enough to pay for the transportation of a new container from Pedals for Progress. We have just begun to make the bicycles available to the public, but I have promised to award two prizes for the best pupils of the year 2009–10 — one pupil from the primary school and the second from the gymnasium (note: in Moldova, the primary school serves students ages 6–10, while the gymnasium serves students ages 10–15). And, of course, we are going to reward the most active volunteers in our various programs.

We are thankful to Pedals for Progress and the American people for providing us the chance to solve some of our everyday problems, like helping us move more quickly through the village and its neighborhood and helping us carry heavy loads more easily.  Also, I can’t help mentioning the great help given by Peace Corps Volunteer Darren Enterline. He supported us greatly in implementing the Bikes for Everybody project and in opening the Sewing Workshop.  Thank you all ever so much for your kindness and generosity.  I wish you to be healthy and continue doing such generous charity for those who really need it so much nowadays.

Kyrgyzstan, Peace Corps, Sewing Partners

Sewing Machines Shipped to Kyrgyzstan, Our Newest Partner

Summer 2008 InGear

Roberto with his community partners
Roberto with his community partners

Most of our projects, and indeed our very first projects, are in Latin America. Nicaragua is where we got our start, and Pedals for Progress founder, Dave Schweidenback, got the initial idea for the organization while stationed as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador. So, it’s fitting that our newest project in Kyrgyzstan, one of the most remote countries on the planet, has a Latin American connection—Roberto Hernandez, an American of Hispanic descent, who grew up in Los Angeles, California. Roberto was inspired to serve his country and fulfill his sense of patriotism by joining the Peace Corps, and he was stationed in Kyrgyzstan. A former Eagle Scout, he has always had a strong desire to help others. His Eagle Scout project saw him organize and lead a project that turned a neglected urban lot into a beautiful community garden in Los Angeles. His involvement with Pedals for Progress came about when he discovered our web site and learned about our sewing machine program.

Normally, we combine sewing machines with bike shipments, fitting them in the remaining space in overseas containers just before closing them up. Shipping them separately has been a challenge, one we overcame in working with Roberto and our new partners at SOS Children’s Villages in the Kyrgyzstan town of Cholpon-Ata. By creating products to sell with the machines they receive, the staff at SOS Kinderhof will generate funds for more sewing machines, as well as have those resources to make more sellable goods. More importantly, they’ll be able to set up a worker-owned co-op and gain ownership of their own business.

Their first shipment of 25 sewing machines arrived in Kyrgyzstan at the end of July, 2008. Hopefully this will be the start of many to follow. In the meantime, these machines will be put to immediate use at SOS Kinderhof. Now, this program will serve as a model for new sewing machine programs in other countries.

Where in the World is Kyrgyzstan?

UnKyrgyzstan

Quick Facts

  • Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country in Central Asia, bordering Kazakhstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
  • In 1991, Kyrgyzstan became an independent country.
  • Average annual income is $2,900 (USD).
  • It is known as the “Switzerland of Central Asia”.
  • Bishkek is the capital and largest city, with about 900,000 inhabitants.
bicycles, Jamaica, Peace Corps

New Program in Jamaica Gets Assist from Our Friend in Colorado

Spring 2008 InGear

John Elias in Jamaica with our P4P partners
John Elias in Jamaica with our P4P partners

A little over ten years ago, John Elias, a Peace Corps alum who had been stationed in Jamaica, ran several collections for Pedals for Progress in his hometown in the Colorado Rockies. Doing so nearly crowded himself out of his auto repair business. Storing large numbers of bikes is one of the hazards of recycling used bikes. Since then, John has been a steady contributor to us and a friend of the organization. So, when we had the opportunity to launch a new program in Ewarton, Jamaica, John’s hometown when he was in the Peace Corps, we didn’t hesitate to call on him to help the process. And we’re grateful that he obliged. With John’s help, we were able to get this program on board.

bicycles, Moldova, Peace Corps

Mobility in Moldova

2002 InGear

Following the disintegration of the USSR and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc economy, communities like Stefan Voda, in the former Soviet republic of Moldova, have seen incomes shrink, the cost of imported goods such as petroleum skyrocket, and their modest standards of living plummet. Personal mobility and productivity have suffered. As bus fares rose, the inhabitants of Stefan Voda could not afford to take public transport, the system collapsed, and a town once inter-connected via a bus system was left without transportation. Private cars are few. Moldovans are fond of bicycles, yet quality and price is a challenge for those on limited incomes. Nobody will sell a used bike, and new expensive imported bikes are the only ones available.

Local farmers on average walk 10–12 miles daily, to and from their fields. This takes two or more hours away from work. The average commute to work and school for teachers, students and others living outside the center of town is 30–45 minutes or more, exacerbated by the local tradition of returning home for lunch.

Peace Corps volunteer Marc Skelton, who works in a local non-governmental organization, Rural 21, coordinated with Stefan Voda. Marc teaches health to 6th and 7th graders, and facilitates HIV/AIDS seminars with local doctors and other medical professionals, to address the spread of this affliction resulting from the conversion of Moldova in general into a gateway for trafficking in women and drugs. Marc immediately saw that bicycles could contribute to better public health and the accomplishment of work and daily chores. Rural 21 agreed. The result is an initial request to P4P for 500 bicycles to establish a vocational educational program repairing and selling bicycles for local distribution.

P4P is presently seeking the $5,000 in funding necessary to finance an initial shipment and effectively capitalize a new project. If you would like to support Marc’s efforts, and those of Rural 21 and the people of Stefan Voda, send a check with the notation “Moldova” to Pedals for Progress, Box 312, High Bridge NJ 08829-0312.

bicycles, Ghana, Peace Corps

COMWELF: Doing Well in Bawku District, Ghana

Fall 2001 InGear

As Pedals for Progress crosses the 10,000 bicycle per year production mark, Africa is receiving more and more bikes, both in total numbers and as a share of overall production. Over the last decade, seven countries in Africa—most significantly South Africa, Ghana, and Eritrea—have received 6,600 bikes, over half of them in the last 18 months since the beginning of the millennium.

2001fallGhanaBikeWsacks

In our summer 2000 issue of InGear, we featured one of our most promising partners, the Community Welfare Foundation (COMWELF) in Bawku, Ghana, and the process leading to an initial shipment taking place as we went to press. This shipment was sponsored by the Friends of Ghana, a Returned Peace Corp Volunteer group.

Because we feel it important to avoid leaving our readers the impression that our partners are temporary or that the glowing hopes reported beforehand are unfulfilled, here is a summary, and a few excerpts, from a subsequent letter and report dated April 15, 2001, received from COMWELF’s director, John Atibila.

Mr. Atibila began providing some basic statistics and the results of a beneficiary survey. The bikes were popular; of 458 bikes received, 420 were sold within six months. The survey revealed that of 25 interviewed, 21 were male, four female. Respondents indicated multiple use; 80% used bikes to go to work on their farms, 72% in going to markets for selling or shopping, 24% in going to school, 20% going to church, 16% going for medical treatment, and 12% for recreation. According to the report, traders earned 70–100% more income by getting to markets easily and early.

2001fallGhanaBikeWcans

Still others saved money by doing without the local bus. Of those surveyed, 85% claimed having a bike raised their social status and 100% reported that the bikes were “very important.”

Mr. Atibila further stated: “We would like to continue with the bikes project. We now have sufficient funds to order container #2. In addition, we have surplus funds of [$1,000] for our poverty alleviation fund, which provides microcredit to rural women… Thank you for your donation.”

Specifically, COMWELF is seeking two containers of 450 bicycles apiece per year, with which it will train 10 additional bike mechanics and hold the Bawku Zone First Annual Cycling Competition, scheduled December 2001. The objectives will be to make COMWELF the leading bicycle distributor in Northern Ghana, support community development and employment in the region, and generate increasing revenue from the project, “which can support rural micro-enterprise development to alleviate poverty and ensure food security.” So far, so good! Stay tuned!