Bikes for Africa; Donated city bikes will help orphans in Malawi

About 150 bikes collected in Peterborough Saturday will be shipped to Malawi, Africa as part of a community development project.

Third Space on Park Street hosted the bike collection on behalf of Africycle, an organization that ships bicycles to impoverished African cities to raise money for local orphanages.

Ben Voss and Mike Siddall, two of the group's founders from Oxbridge, Ont., were on hand to thank donors.


The organization began collecting bicycles two years ago and shipped its first load of 450 bicycles as well as tools and parts to Zomba, Malawi on March 19.

The bikes are shipped in a 40-foot shipping cart, which upon arrival, becomes a makeshift bicycle repair shop, Siddall said.

Several locals are employed to fix and sell the bikes with proceeds going to local orphanages.

"The actual container itself becomes a bicycle shop," Siddall said. "We plant the shop there and it becomes a working community development project."

The first container was well-received, they said, and the group hopes to send a second one by next winter.

Three Peterborough residents - Jessica Cunningham, Steph Wood and James Kirkland - will be going to Africa themselves to supervise one of the two projects, Siddall said.

"We've made some great connections here in Peterborough," Siddall said.

Third Place pastor David Blondel said he thought it was a great cause and didn't hesitate to chip in.

"It's a good project.

"There are several local connections to it, so this was just one way to help," Blondel said.