Engineering at Bicycles for Humanity
As well as supplying working bicycles, Bicycles for Humanity (B4H) establishes Bicycle Empowerment Centres (BEC), which are bike workshops built from the shipping containers the bicycles have arrived in. Bicycles make a huge difference, but it is the BEC that makes a lasting difference. Each trains and employs local community members to be bike mechanics and small business people – providing employment, skills training, business opportunity and economic stimulus.
B4H’s bicycle recycling contributes to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, promoting a future in which cities provide opportunities for all, with access to basic services, energy, housing, transportation and more; and SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, thinking of ways to repurpose old materials. Through their Bicycle Empowerment Centres, B4H is working towards SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, building skills and creating small business people in developing countries.
None of the services B4H provides would be possible without the help of volunteers, and on a chilly August morning, an eager team of volunteers from Woodside’s Engineering department were the next to lend a hand. The team of 10 volunteers waited eagerly outside Woodside Plaza, ready to head to Bicycles for Humanity’s workshop in Middle Swan. After arriving on site, the team were greeted by Volunteering WA and Bicycles for Humanity to staff and received a briefing about the organisation and the services they provide. They were then given an overview of the tasks ahead of them before setting off to their designated work spaces and getting started. The team were raring to go as soon as they arrived, keen to get stuck into the mechanics and learn new skills. And others were excited to put their existing skills to good use. We sure lucked out with this team of volunteers who knew exactly what they were doing!
The key task for the day was to salvage the good parts of the bicycles to be sent as spare parts for people to use to repair their bicycles, but the volunteers also helped repair and prepare donated bicycles, which will be packed into a shipping container to be sent to Namibia. The workshop was buzzing with activity, with the Woodside volunteers joined by regular B4H volunteers fixing bicycles, groups of volunteers popping in throughout the day dropping off bicycles, and a group of local high school students volunteering in the afternoon.
After an intense hour of work, the team took a quick time out for some morning tea before getting right back into it. And it wasn’t long before it was lunchtime and the team were treated to a lovely meal, with one volunteer wishing they had more of the delicious curry puffs! After lunch the team quickly carried on from where they left off, motoring until the end of their day, by which stage they were understandably exhausted, having stripped over 50 bicycles for wheels, chains and seats, removed tyres and tubes from tyres and stacked and prepared bicycles for shipping containers bound for
The team had a great time working and teambuilding with their colleagues to achieve tangible outcomes. They also walked away with a new skill or two, as well as warm fuzzies knowing the work they did would really make a difference. Thanks team!
“It was perfect.”