Mike's Bikes Africa

Bike Drive in Massasachusetts

2010-08-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

This year, Mason & Mason Assurance Group, Inc. has partnered with Mike's Bikes to help us collect bicycles in Massachusetts for the Mike's Bikes Foundation Africa Bike Drive. So far, they have collected more than 350 bikes, but they need your help to get to their goal of 500 bikes by the end of September. 500 bikes is the number of bikes that can fit in a full shipping container, bikes that make a difference in so many people's lives.

How can you help? If you are in the Bay State (not the Bay Area!) and you have bikes you would like to donate, please contact Tom Messier at (800) 759-1472. If you're not in Massachusetts, you can still help by posting this to your friends, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Ride to Rhodes

2010-08-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, August 14-15, the Lesotho Cycling Association held national championships outside of Maseru. Eleven of Lesotho's bicycle clubs participated.

The riders were divided into three classes - Elite, Veterans, and Juniors - and gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded within these classes. Winners won jerseys, medals, and cash for bike parts.

On Saturday, the teams faced off on a rugged mountain bike course. On Sunday, the teams swapped out their tires and hit the road.

This year Tumi's Bicycle Club did quite well, outranking all other teams with 9 medals won. In the mountain bike race, Tumi and two others in the club won gold in their categories, as well as two bronze winners. In the road race, one of the members of the juniors team won gold, and several others won silver and bronze.

Congratulations Tumi and the Tumi's Bicycle Club Riders! Your hard work is paying off.

BMX Arrives in Lesotho

2010-08-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

On July 31, Tumi's Bicycle Club BMX Track opened to the public in Khubetsoana, Lesotho. It is the first BMX track in Lesotho, and it has already proved to be popular with kids in the surrounding neighborhoods. Parents like it too, because it gives their kids a safe, off-road place to ride their bikes.

More information about the track and launch party can be found in the Lesotho Times.

Mike's Bikes Africa Video

2010-07-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

Listen to Matt and Ken talk about Mike's Bikes' projects in Africa, tour our sister shops and meet our partners.

Report from Tumi in Lesotho

2010-07-06T17:11:00.000-07:00

Mike's Bikes just got some great photos from our partner in Lesotho, Tumisang Taabe.

Recently Tumi brought a bunch of bikes to a local school sports day for the kids to play with.

While waiting for their turn to compete in track and field events, children from nine local schools got to play with the bikes. The children were very excited to have be able to ride bikes, so the teachers have decided to allow them to start school cycling clubs.

Because of the uniquely affordable structure that Mr. Taabe is implementing through his cycling club, children from all of these schools will be able to join a cycling team.

In addition to helping the schools form cycling teams, Mr. Taabe has formed a bicycle club that holds regular clinics to teach its members how to clean and repair bicycles. These little boys had so much fun fixing their flat!

Cycling in Lesotho is really taking off! Members of the local team placed for the Tour De Lesotho, as did our partner, Tumi. Congratulations to the whole team!

San Rafael Patch gives a shout to our Africa Sister Shop projects

2010-07-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to the San Rafael Patch, a great local news website, for doing this terrific blurb about our Sister Shop projects in Africa.

It's a reminder that, while we're doing what we can to bring the life-changing power of the bicycle to the people of developing countries, our efforts are home-grown and their success would not be possible without the generosity of our loyal local customers.

395 bikes headed to Zimbabwe, loaded in record time

2010-06-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

Our Zimbabwe Sister Shop container is loaded up and in transit. Wondering how we stuffed all 395 bikes in there, plus crucial components and supplies? Click below:

How to load 395 Bikes (and a ton of components) on a 40ft. Shipping Container from Mike's Bikes on Vimeo.

This Wednesday June 9, help us load container #5 in San Rafael!

2010-06-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

We're loading another container bound for Africa with over 450 bicycles donated by customers on Wednesday, June 9. The container loading will start at 9:00am at 24 Tiburon Street, and volunteers are welcome for any part of the day.

This is the fifth container to be sent to the Sister Shop Program by Mike’s Bikes through our bicycle-focused non-profit entity, the Mike’s Bikes Foundation. The bikes’ journey to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe will take approximately 8 weeks, and there they will offer their new owners desperately needed access to health care, education, and employment.

Collected from customers at all eight Mike's Bikes stores, these donated bikes will be sent to MK Cycles, to be established this year as the third Mike's Bikes Sister Shop in Africa. Mike’s Bikes owners Ken Martin and Matt Adams created the Mike’s Bikes Foundation to realize their goal of creating a self-sustaining source of affordable bicycle transportation in sub-Saharan African communities. Starting in 2008 with their first Sister Shop in Gaborone, Botswana, then continuing to the rural village of Mutjiku, Namibia in 2009, the Foundation is excited to be opening yet another locally-owned source of green, healthy transportation in Africa.

Africa donation bike container #4 was loaded this weekend in Virginia

2010-05-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

Yep, you read right, our fourth Africa donation bike container was loaded this weekend in the far off land of Alexandria, Virginia. This latest container will ship out to Namibia shortly, and will provide much-needed bikes for our Sister Shop MakVeto Bicycles, in addition to helping replenish community shops that are supported by our esteemed partner Bicycle Empowerment Network, Namibia.

Why Virginia? The donation bikes for this latest effort were collected by another one of our partner organizations, Virginia-based Wheels to Africa. A nonprofit founded in 2005, Wheels to Africa's focus is harnessing the power of local youth in Virginia to collect bikes for donation to Africa. The Mike's Bikes Foundation is covering shipping, ground transport, and customs charges for this latest container.

In addition to the re-supply of MakVeto, we will be supplying a portion of these donated bikes to BEN Namibia. In return, they'll send some of the only expert bike mechanics in the country to stay with Erasmus, Ludwig, and Mukena at MakVeto, and provide in-depth service training to them that our all-too-short visit could not. Stay tuned for more info on this fourth Africa bike container, and the astounding progress that MakVeto is making in the use of bicycle transportation in the Caprivi Region of Namibia.

The strike strikes!

2010-05-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

Africa donation bike container #3 has come quite far on its journey from San Rafael, California. As far as Johannesburg, South Africa to be exact. Yet, as we've so often found with our philanthropy projects in Africa, unexpected complications have a habit of tossing a monkey wrench into the gears exactly when you think things are going smoothly.

This time striking South African rail and port workers have stopped the container of 474 bikes in its tracks (so to speak). It's awaiting loading onto rail transit in Jo-burg, in order to head to Mike's Bikes Sister Shop Jonmol Bicycle Services in Gaborone, Botswana. The strike is now in its sixth day, and we're hoping along with Bones and the Jonmol crew that the strike reaches a resolution posthaste. As we've experienced first-hand, the people of Gaborone need bikes!

The story of the loading of our third container of Africa bikes - told in a minute and a half

2010-05-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

How to load 474 Bikes on a 40ft. Shipping Container from Mike's Bikes on Vimeo.

(Imagine the theme music to Benny Hill)

Back in March, we loaded 474 bikes generously donated by our customers into a shipping container bound for Gaborone, Botswana. Our third Africa bike container to date, this one is headed to Jonmol Bicycle Services, our first Africa Sister Shop that was established in 2008.

Thanks to the wild success of Jonmol, there are hundreds of people now using bicycles for transportation in Gaborone. The only drawback to getting the bikes out so quickly is that now Jonmol's proprietor Bones is in dire need of another round of affordable bicycles to offer to his community. Once again the customers of Mike's Bikes have stepped up, and this container was packed with more bikes than any we've sent to date!

MakVeto Bikes: Serving all of the Bicycle Needs of the Greater Caprivi Region

2010-03-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

It's been far too long in coming, but here, finally, is an update that describes the scene that we left in the village of Mutjiku, Namibia.

As the metalwork was being completed on the container-turned-bike-shop, we scraped its surface and painted it a thick coat of white to ward off the triple digit daytime heat that's common in the summer months. The white paint would also make the MakVeto bike shop stand out from the landscape as people passed by on highway B8—a heavily traveled route by virtue of being the only paved connection through the Caprivi Region.

By painting the shop name on the side, with the word 'Bicycles' prominently placed, the entire area would be buzzing with news of the bike shop in short order. With no other signs for miles, save the all-important Elephant Crossing notice, one couldn't wish for a more effective means of outdoor advertising. Erasmus had some experience in drawing and painting, and in fact he had made a logo and sign for the shop that was ready before we even arrived.

Taking his lettermark MV straight from the sign, I measured it out and painted it on the side of the container. Once the orange and red paint was dry Erasmus would finish the black parts with a bicycle illustration, the MakVeto name, a listing of their services, and finally a message that mentioned that they're a Sister Shop of Mike's Bikes in California. I felt it was important that these be in his handwriting and not mine. Sadly these last parts could not be completed by the time our stay was up, but we'll post a photo here as soon as we have one.

Inside the container, hooks for vertical bike storage were set up. These hooks would hold donation bikes that were freshly tuned and ready to be sold. Shelves and hangers were mounted to store parts and consumables like tires and tubes. The office area was outfitted with a desk, chairs, file cabinet, and a lock for the door. Multiple runs to Rundu for building supplies were made, which was no easy task, for even with our trusty rental truck it was a two hour trek each way.

While Ken and I were doing construction and making supply runs, Matt took time to give the MakVeto crew clinics on bicycle repair. With an overflowing pile of donation bikes, there certainly was no shortage of repair patients on hand. And while Erasmus and Ludwig had been given some preliminary training by Bicycle Empowerment Network Namibia, their skills needed some honing if they were to provide quality service to their community.

Mukena and Elisabeth (at right) were coming in with no formal training, but over the course of two days of clinics they proved to be quick learners with natural mechanical ability. Starting with the basics of changing tubes, lubricating chains, and adjusting brakes and derailleurs, Matt then went into more advanced fundamentals such as replacing cables and overhauling hubs, headsets, and bottom brackets. At the close of our last full day in the village of Mutjiku, MakVeto bikes was ready to roll with 25 bicycles freshly tuned and ready to give life-changing experiences to their new owners.

On the morning of our departure from the Caprivi Strip, we stopped by the shop before running some errands in the area. We caught Erasmus and Ludwig holding their first official staff meeting, which was pretty thrilling to see in and of itself. They were going over bicycle, accessory, and service pricing, and the basics of profit and loss. Matt and Ken were able to give the guys some help in pricing the bikes, which included determining what prices the local people could afford to pay and why some bikes were higher quality (and therefore more expensive) than others.

While we were hoping MakVeto would be able to open for business that morning, we got the bad news that the Fumu (the local Tribal King of sorts) had announced that he wanted a personal audience with Erasmus and Ludwig before they would be allowed to sell any bikes. As with many things in this part of Africa, there was yet one more piece of tribal bureaucracy to be dealt with before progress could be made. We then set off on our errands and promised to return for a final goodbye. When at last we were able to get back to MakVeto Bikes one last time, we were surprised to learn that Erasmus and Ludwig had gone to meet the Fumu at the very time we had come to bid farewell.

Though it was a little heartbreaking not to be able to see the guys one last time, later on that day we received a text message from Erasmus that made us all cheer out loud. "Fumu let us open the shop. Today we sold three bikes. Thank you guys for all you have done!" We'd like to add one thing: Thank you to all our Mike's Bikes customers for all YOU have done too.

PHOTO UPDATE: When you need a big metal box to be proper habitat for a bike shop, you've gotta have a guy.

2009-12-18T17:29:00.000-08:00

Now we had a bunch of bikes, and a big metal box, but unfortunately these two things alone do not a bike shop make. We needed a second door and a window in the box to make it feasible as a work space, and we also needed to make an outdoor shade structure for repair work during the heat of the day.

We needed a guy, and Erasmus knew where to find him.

When we first drove up to Diwiwi Welding, we found a hand-painted sign with a spider logo, a shack with a sliding metal door (instead of the wood ones that were typical), a bunch of random metal debris in the yard, and nothing else.

The proprietor, Alex, was nowhere to be found. Erasmus walked behind the shack and disappeared for ten minutes or so. While he was gone we were more than a little worried. We had just three full work days before we'd have to leave, and there was a lot to be done. What if he was away from the area entirely? There wasn't exactly a lot of competition for metal fabricators on the west end of the Caprivi, and if this was the case we'd probably be completely out of luck.

Thankfully Erasmus learned from Alex's family that he had gone to the local market and that we could find him there. The exchange at the market was an interesting one. We indeed found Alex immediately, he stuck out from the crowd with his stylish woven fedora hat and oversized sunglasses. We introduced ourselves, outlined what we needed done, and asked him for an estimate.

"Neh-GWAH-she-ate" was his response.

After we figured out this meant he wanted to negotiate, it was pretty obvious he'd be doing his best to extract as much money from the foreigners as he could. It wasn't surprising of course, business is business, but we spent a frustrating little bit of time going back and forth with him and not getting any kind of number on the table. So we told him we'd pick him up early the next morning to get to work on the project. What else could we do?

Over the course of the next few days, our experience with Alex would prove to be pretty entertaining. We borrowed a generator from Ludwig's neighbor to supply him with power, and he brought a 110 volt hobbyist-style stick welder along with a large angle grinder and a power drill. These things were unheard of in the local villages, so we were more than thankful that he was so well equipped.

He worked long, hard days in the hot sun the entire time, but let's just say precision was not his forte. He mistakenly cut the bottom slice for the door much too long, and he had to cut and re-weld the door frame section after messing it up more than once. Yet in the end, Alex did get the jobs done that we needed, and in the bush with triple digit heat and little shade, this was certainly no easy task.

The man was quite a character, to be sure. His mastery of english was not nearly as good as Erasmus and Ludwig's, but when he did speak it he would often do so in a drawling style that seemed, maybe, to be on purpose. Even a bit cocky, perhaps. And when the time finally came to "negotiate," he took his demands much farther, even, than we expected him to. For example, one of the things he tried to charge us for was travel expenses, even though we went well out of our way to pick him up and drive him home every day. He tried to charge us for materials as well, but we provided everything right down the the welding sticks and cutting wheels.

In the end, we handed the dealings with Alex over to Erasmus and Ludwig. We knew they had a real grasp of what constituted a fair price here, and we wanted to see how they would handle one of their first business deals. This proved to be a good move, and the boys impessed us once again. They went back and forth with Alex line-by-line, and after much hemming and hawing his fee ended up being one third of what he showed us to begin with. It was still a kingly sum for a typical worker in the Mutjiku area. But really, when you need metal fabrication done in the bush in Namibia, you've gotta have a guy. And sometimes that guy's just gotta get paid.

AUDIO & PHOTO UPDATE: Red tape and red clay: Bureaucracy in Mutjiku

2009-11-23T15:04:00.000-08:00

Erasmus and Ludwig needed to go through a complicated bureaucratic process with the local tribal authorities in order to gain approval to open their bike shop, and this handwritten letter was the official okay they received. Even though they had jumped through all of the right hoops, as soon as the container showed up and word spread around the area that something big was happening in Mutjiku, there was apparently a bit of jealousy and suspicion as to the aims of these foreigners and their load of bicycles, and as to why Erasmus and Ludwig had gotten such fortune bestowed on them.
When we arrived on Wednesday morning to continue work on the site, we were surprised to find out that we had been summoned to meet with the tribal Headman for an interview. While its purpose ostensibly was so that he could be sure we weren't trying to lay claim to any of the local land (leftover mistrust from colonial days) or lay any claim to the business assets that we were donating to Erasmus and Ludwig, it was all simply a long and tedious exercise that we found out later on was caused by the Headman not having notified his superior, the Fumu (the tribal king) properly about the bike shop plans. It was an exact parallel to some of the bureaucratic nonsense that happens every day in the U.S.

As silly as it was (Erasmus and Ludwig were visibly annoyed the entire time), the experience was something we'll remember forever. This official meeting with the Headman took place under a thatched roof shade structure with chickens running around our feet and roosters interrupting the procedures with sporadic ear-splitting cries. The man himself was one of the few people we have seen here who had any kind of portliness, and in the heat of the day he wore a knit sweater and black pants with well-worn black dress shoes. He spoke dramatically in the local tongue and took every opportunity he could to try to impress us with his authority.

Click on the video link below to hear some audio from the camera that was in my pocket during all of this. At first you can hear the tribal headman talking, then Erasmus' father speaks and is interrupted at :27 seconds by a rooster.

Bureaucracy in Mutjiku, Namibia from Mike's Bikes on Vimeo.

After much pontification and back-and-forth about what meetings we should have scheduled and which forms should have been filled out, he thanked us for our kindness to their community and explained that when outsiders come in with money and resources it sometimes brings unforeseen consequences and obligations from the people of the village. To "make sure" everything was on the level, we were required to pick up the local Gentleman who was the local Land Board Member and have him do an "inspection" of the Makveto shop site.

We obliged of course, and this led to more running around and general wasting of valuable time. Following the "inspection" (which was nothing more than the Gentleman walking around looking important) we were asked to sit with this Land Board Official and the Headman again. And so the day went on like this, round and round, shuttle here, sign this there, etcetera etcetera. At long last we were told that these men had to be compensated for the time that they had taken (from us) that day, and they asked for N$200 (the equivalent of around $30 U.S.) We watched the two officials split this cash and pocket it before we dropped them off, and at long last we were allowed to continue our work.

Rugged and isolated as this land may seem, we learned this day that even in rural Africa red clay buildings sometimes turn out to be nothing more than factories for red tape.

PHOTO UPDATE: Bicycle Retail 101, or perhaps 98A.

2009-11-20T11:17:00.000-08:00

Following the container unloading adventure we provided lunch for all of the workers. We also announced a donation to Mutjiku Youth Against Crime, who had been such a great group of helpers that morning. Almost immediately the youth group decided to use the money to have t-shirts made. This again demonstrated the popularity of the custom t-shirt in Mutjiku, but it also would be quite practical as most of the clothing the kids were wearing was in a very sorry state of repair.

The next step was to talk some business with Erasmus and Ludwig, and though we had been hearing amazing things about them from Kami we really didn't know what to expect from the guys in this regard. We headed back to Kami's house in Buffalo with the boys to look at some spreadsheets she had made with them and go over their receipt books.

Within an hour or so, we were pretty much floored. These guys really had excellent heads for this kind of thing. They had been keeping records of all of the supplies and expenses they'd had to date, and most everything was accounted for from our initial get-the-ball-rolling donation to them. They had set up a bank account and had already agreed that they would employ Mukena and Elisabeth on a volunteer basis for the first two months, before they had enough revenue to pay salaries. And they had pledged to not pay themselves at all until the business had started to earn a profit. It seemed most everything they had done so far was sensible and prudent, and frankly, it was impressive.

We helped them determine the best methods of keeping records for goods that they sold, and how best to track their expenses. Standards for calculating profit and loss were set, and Erasmus and Ludwig sucked it all up like sponges. We even had some discussions about marketing, and were enthused about the plans they had made in this regard. They were going to make flyers and ride to all the local villages to distribute them on bikes. They were even planning on organizing cycling events and group rides and claimed that there was already much interest in this within Mutjiku and the surrounding towns. We even heard the words 'bike race' spoken more than once, and we only hope there is a chance that we're somehow around to witness what a bicycle race on the Caprivi Strip would be like.

The entire theory behind the Mike's Bikes Sister Shop program is that with good management, hard work, a little time, and the kick-start of donation bikes, these fledgling shops would be able to bring more and more bicycles into their communities—many times more than just the initial donation container. With tools, training, and access to supply lines, they would also be able to service and repair bikes to keep them on the road and serving their owners. And, most importantly, they would be a completely self-sufficient force in establishing the use of the bicycle for transportation in areas where people have no other options.

While we were astonished at the steps Erasmus and Ludwig had taken before our arrival—not the least of which was constructing a free-standing office hut complete with a concrete floor, mind you—this meeting cemented in our minds the fact that these guys had the brains, the talent, and the sheer gumption to make this thing work. If anyone could establish a bicycle transportation movement in the Caprivi region of Namibia, Erasmus and Ludwig were the guys to do the job.

PHOTO UPDATE: 35 meters east of the Elephant Crossing sign in Mutjiku, Namibia, a bike shop was born.

2009-11-17T18:56:00.000-08:00

When we arrived with the container rig at Erasmus' homestead in Mutjiku, we were blown away by what we saw. His entire extended family and many friends and neighbors were gathered outside waiting for us. Groups of children gathered in the shade to witness what was happening.

The offloading process with the truck's built-in lift was amazingly smooth, and so much easier than we had expected from our trials in trying to find a working crane and operator in Botswana last year. There were two moments of panic on our part when the drivers had trouble with an air line fitting and then couldn't get the hydraulic motor started. Both were solved, the box was placed down next to the small office hut that Erasmus and Ludwig had built, and we were ecstatic.

Almost immediately everyone dove into a flurry of activity. While the container was being opened, Erasmus and I rounded up the youth organization that he had founded, Mutjiku Youth Against Crime, who were to be our hired help for the day. As we returned to the container site, we saw that the crowd had grown and grown. Matt, Ken, Ludwig, and Mukena were offloading the bikes at a dizzying pace, and the crowds of local men, women, and children had made a game of matching bikes to their front wheels (removed to pack more into the container). Once both wheels were on, the bikes were then rolled down the path to a store room (formerly a family gathering place) in the middle of Erasmus' homestead. Many of the young boys made a race out of getting the bikes back and forth down the pathway to storage, with ensuing cuteness and hilarity.

I find it hard to put words to what happened that morning. To see the bikes bring such joy on the kids' faces, and excitement to the adults'—it was just indescribable. The whole activity of unloading and matching up bikes and wheels with us trying our best to help instruct the flood of people that were eager to help—it was raucous, chaotic, and one of the most utterly beautiful things I have ever witnessed or been a part of. I can only hope that pictures will do some small amount of justice to the story.

New photos added

2009-11-16T01:36:00.000-08:00

I have just uploaded a few new photos to a post, click here if you want to see them. Every time I'm able to do this, I will update with a new post like this one.

When you need a big metal box to be proper habitat for a bike shop, you've gotta have a guy.

2009-11-16T01:13:00.000-08:00

Note: Pictures will be added to this post as soon as we have a connection that will allow us to upload them.

Now we had a bunch of bikes, and a big metal box, but unfortunately these two things alone do not a bike shop make. We needed a second door and a window in the box to make it feasible as a work space, and we also needed to make an outdoor shade structure for repair work during the heat of the day.

We needed a guy, and Erasmus knew where to find him.

When we first drove up to Diwiwi Welding, we found a handpainted sign with a spider logo, a shack with a sliding metal door (instead of the wood ones that were typical), a bunch of random metal debris in the yard, and nothing else. The proprietor, Alex, was nowhere to be found. Erasmus walked behind the shack and disappeared for ten minutes or so. While he was gone we were more than a little worried. We had just three full work days before we'd have to leave, and there was a lot to be done. What if he was away from the area entirely? There wasn't exactly a lot of competition for metal fabricators on the west end of the Caprivi, and if this was the case we'd probably be completely out of luck.

Thankfully Erasmus learned from Alex's family that he had gone to the local market and that we could find him there. The exchange at the market was an interesting one. We indeed found Alex immediately, he stuck out from the crowd with his stylish woven fedora hat and oversized sunglasses. We introduced ourselves, outlined what we needed done, and asked him for an estimate.

"Neh-GWAH-she-ate" was his response.

After we figured out this meant he wanted to negotiate, it was pretty obvious he'd be doing his best to extract as much money from the foreigners as he could. It wasn't surprising of course, business is business, but we spent a frustrating little bit of time going back and forth with him and not getting any kind of number on the table. So we told him we'd pick him up early the next morning to get to work on the project. What else could we do?

Over the course of the next few days, our experience with Alex would prove to be pretty entertaining. We borrowed a generator from Ludwig's neighbor to supply him with power, and he brought a 110 volt hobbyist-style stick welder along with a large angle grinder and a power drill. These things were unheard of in the local villages, so we were more than thankful that he was so well equipped. He worked long, hard days in the hot sun the entire time, but let's just say precision was not his forte. He mistakenly cut the bottom slice for the door much too long, and he had to cut and re-weld the door frame section after messing it up more than once. Yet in the end, Alex did get the jobs done that we needed, and in the bush with triple digit heat and little shade, this was certainly no easy task.

The man was quite a character, to be sure. His mastery of english was not nearly as good as Erasmus and Ludwig's, but when he did speak it he would often do so in a drawling style that seemed, maybe, to be on purpose. Even a bit cocky, perhaps. And when the time finally came to "negotiate," he took his demands much farther, even, than we expected him to. For example, one of the things he tried to charge us for was travel expenses, even though we went well out of our way to pick him up and drive him home every day. He tried to charge us for materials as well, but we provided everything right down the the welding sticks and cutting wheels.

In the end, we handed the dealings with Alex over to Erasmus and Ludwig. We knew they had a real grasp of what constituted a fair price here, and we wanted to see how they would handle one of their first business deals. This proved to be a good move, and the boys impessed us once again. They went back and forth with Alex line-by-line, and after much hemming and hawing his fee ended up being one third of what he showed us to begin with. It was still a kingly sum for a typical worker in the Mutjiku area. But really, when you need metal fabrication done in the bush in Namibia, you've gotta have a guy. And sometimes that guy's just gotta get paid.

New photos added

2009-11-14T22:51:00.000-08:00

I have just uploaded a few new photos to a post, click here if you want to see them. Every time I'm able to do this, I will update with a new post like this one.

Red tape and red clay: Bureaucracy in Mutjiku

2009-11-14T22:24:00.000-08:00

Note: Pictures will be added to this post as soon as we have a connection that will allow us to upload them.

Erasmus and Ludwig needed to go through a complicated bureaucratic process with the local tribal authorities in order to gain approval to open their bike shop, and this handwritten letter was the official okay they received. Even though they had jumped through all of the right hoops, as soon as the container showed up and word spread around the area that something big was happening in Mutjiku, there was apparently a bit of jealousy and suspicion as to the aims of these foreigners and their load of bicycles, and as to why Erasmus and Ludwig had gotten such fortune bestowed on them.

When we arrived on Wednesday morning to continue work on the site, we were surprised to find out that we had been summoned to meet with the tribal Headman for an interview. While its purpose ostensibly was so that he could be sure we weren't trying to lay claim to any of the local land (leftover mistrust from colonial days) or lay any claim to the business assets that we were donating to Erasmus and Ludwig, it was all simply a long and tedious exercise that we found out later on was caused by the Headman not having notified his superior, the Fumu (the tribal king) properly about the bike shop plans. It was an exact parallel to some of the bureaucratic nonsense that happens every day in the U.S.

As silly as it was (Erasmus and Ludwig were visibly annoyed the entire time), the experience was something we'll remember forever. This official meeting with the Headman took place under a thatched roof shade structure with chickens running around our feet and roosters interrupting the procedures with sporadic ear-splitting cries. The man himself was one of the few people we have seen here who had any kind of portliness, and in the heat of the day he wore a knit sweater and black pants with well-worn black dress shoes. He spoke dramatically in the local tongue and took every opportunity he could to try to impress us with his authority.

After much pontification and back-and-forth about what meetings we should have scheduled and which forms should have been filled out, he thanked us for our kindness to their community and explained that when outsiders come in with money and resources it sometimes brings unforeseen consequences and obligations from the people of the village. To "make sure" everything was on the level, we were required to pick up the local Gentleman who was the local Land Board Member and have him do an "inspection" of the Makveto shop site.

We obliged of course, and this led to more running around and general wasting of valuable time. Following the "inspection" (which was nothing more than the Gentleman walking around looking important) we were asked to sit with this Land Board Official and the Headman again. And so the day went on like this, round and round, shuttle here, sign this there, etcetera etcetera. At long last we were told that these men had to be compensated for the time that they had taken (from us) that day, and they asked for N$200 (the equivalent of around $30 U.S.) We watched the two officials split this cash and pocket it before we dropped them off, and at long last we were allowed to continue our work.

Rugged and isolated as this land may seem, we learned this day that even in rural Africa red clay buildings sometimes turn out to be nothing more than factories for red tape.

Bicycle Retail 101, or perhaps 98A

2009-11-14T22:17:00.000-08:00

Note: Pictures will be added to this post as soon as we have a connection that will allow us to upload them.

Following the container unloading adventure we provided lunch for all of the workers. We also announced a donation to Mutjiku Youth Against Crime, who had been such a great group of helpers that morning. Almost immediately the youth group decided to use the money to have t-shirts made. This again demonstrated the popularity of the custom t-shirt in Mutjiku, but it also would be quite practical as most of the clothing the kids were wearing was in a very sorry state of repair.

The next step was to talk some business with Erasmus and Ludwig, and though we had been hearing amazing things about them from Kami we really didn't know what to expect from the guys in this regard. We headed back to Kami's house in Buffalo with the boys to look at some spreadsheets she had made with them and go over their receipt books.

Within an hour or so, we were pretty much astonished. These guys really had excellent heads for this kind of thing. They had been keeping records of all of the supplies and expenses they'd had to date, and most everything was accounted for from our initial get-the-ball-rolling donation to them. They had set up a bank account and had already agreed that they would employ Mukena and Elisabeth on a volunteer basis for the first two months, before they had enough revenue to pay salaries. And they had pledged to not pay themselves at all until the business had started to earn a profit. It seemed most everything they had done so far was sensible and prudent, and frankly, it was impressive.

We helped them determine the best methods of keeping records for goods that they sold, and how best to track their expenses. Standards for calculating profit and loss were set, and Erasmus and Ludwig sucked it all up like sponges. We even had some discussions about marketing, and were enthused about the plans they had made in this regard. They were going to make flyers and ride to all the local villages to distribute them on bikes. They were even planning on organizing cycling events and group rides and claimed that there was already much interest in this within Mutjiku and the surrounding towns. We even heard the words 'bike race' spoken more than once, and we only hope there is a chance that we're somehow around to witness what a bicycle race on the Caprivi Strip would be like.

The entire theory behind the Mike's Bikes Sister Shop program is that with good management, hard work, a little time, and the kick-start of donation bikes, these fledgling shops would be able to bring more and more bicycles into their communities—many times more than just the initial donation container. With tools, training, and access to supply lines, they would also be able to service and repair bikes to keep them on the road and serving their owners. And, most importantly, they would be a completely self-sufficient force in establishing the use of the bicycle for transportation in areas where people have no other options.

While we were astonished at the steps Erasmus and Ludwig had taken before our arrival—not the least of which was constructing a free-standing office hut complete with a concrete floor, mind you—this meeting cemented in our minds the fact that these guys had the brains, the talent, and the sheer gumption to make this thing work. If anyone could establish a bicycle transportation movement in the Caprivi region of Namibia, Erasmus and Ludwig were the guys to do the job.

Last Sunday, 35 meters east of the Elephant Crossing sign in Mutjiku, Namibia, a bike shop was born.

2009-11-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

And on the Second Day, they said "There will be a container." And there was. And it was good.

2009-11-14T09:36:00.001-08:00

After a surprise transport delay had made us hold our collective breath for one day and one night, a call came through early on Sunday morning. The container of donation bikes was in Rundu, Namibia, 150 miles away from Erasmus' homestead in Mutjiku. And it was now heading our way.
Still holding our breath, and starting to turn a bit blue, Erasmus, Kami, Ken, Matt, and I headed about 15 miles down the road to the nearby village of Divundu to meet the truck.

On the way we bumped into Mukena, who was out on a bicycle errand picking up some new custom t-shirts that the Makveto crew had made. Though you'd almost think it was the last thing that would be needed, t-shirts like these are actually very significant here. They give organizations and businesses real legitimacy. And let's face it, whether you're in rural southern Africa or downtown San Francisco, everyone digs a cool t-shirt.

When we finally caught sight of the truck, we had trouble containing ourselves, and not just because we could breathe again. It was a vision of beauty, that container that I had last seen in our warehouse in San Rafael, California. After traveling more than 13,000 miles over land and sea it had arrived. The donation bikes from our customers were here, and considering our remote surroundings, we almost couldn't believe our eyes.

Welcome to Mutjiku

2009-11-12T12:46:00.000-08:00

I'm sure most of you have had the pleasure of passing through the village of Mutjiku, in the Caprivi Game Reserve region of Namibia. Maybe on your way to the hardware store in Rundu, or while running errands in Divundu. But I really shouldn't assume these things, so maybe a few details about this place and how we came to be here are in order.

Caprivi is a narrow strip of rugged land that extends like a panhandle off of the north east corner of Namibia. Sandwiched between Angola and Zambia to the north and Botswana to the south (mmmm, panhandle sandwich), the main feature of this area is the Kavango River which runs right through Mutjiku and is the source of water (and life, consequently) for the people of the village.

Mutjiku consists of parcels of land that are granted to individual families through regional tribal authorities. These parcels typically have family homesteads clustered on them, like Erasmus Kaveto's family plot where the Makveto bicycle shop will be located.

These family plots are used for both crop growing (about nine major types), animal herding (primarily cows, goats, and chickens), and for the family dwellings. One of the most incredible things in fact, are these domiciles. There are many variations, but the most common way they are built consists of finding certain types of termite-resistant wood for a simple frame, molding walls from clay, sand, and sometimes reed covering, and making thick thatched roofs from reeds bound together. These houses have a simple, sturdy, honest beauty, and the better ones are surprisingly cool even in the triple digit heat that comes on a typical day here.

We have been staying with our very gracious host Kami, who is a Peace Corps volunteer working on HIV/AIDS issues here in Caprivi. She has been extremely helpful to our project in too many ways to count, starting with the original connection to Erasmus and Ludwig. When the Bicycle Empowerment Network (BEN for short, an amazing group who have helped us greatly in our efforts) volunteered a bike as a prize for an HIV testing event that Kami was putting on, she became aware of their efforts and quickly became friends with Michael and Clarisse who run the operation in Namibia. Meanwhile, Erasmus and Ludwig just happened to ask their neighbor (Kami) to print out a plan for a bike shop project that they came up with and were looking for funding to make a reality. Kami got in touch with BEN, BEN got in touch with Mike's Bikes at the exact time we were searching for our next Sister Shop project, and the rest is history (or present, as it were).

Kami has lived in Namibia for three years, and her house is just up the road from what you might call Mutjiku proper (a crazy concept, really). We have found her home to be extremely charming, cozy, and surprisingly comfortable. She gets her water from a solar-operated bore pump, and even has just a bit of electricity now and then also from a small solar array. We have helped Erasmus and Ludwig procure a solar power system for their Sister Shop, but these systems are far from the norm around here. The vast majority of people in this area live entirely without running water or electricity.

Caprivi is the region in Namibia that is most impacted by the devastation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The infection rate per capita is roughly 37% here, compared to around 18% for the rest of the country. This is what brought Kami here to try to help make a difference, and giving the people easier access to testing and health care is one of the main reasons we are excited to be setting up our Sister Shop here.

Heavy loads are transported on sleds driven by oxen and smaller ones are moved on foot. Like in Gaborone, Botswana we found ourselves amazed with the overwhelming number of people walking. Everywhere we go in the Caprivi, there are always people walking, no matter how far away we are from anything, no matter how heavy the loads they carry, no matter what time of the day or night it is, people here walk.

Unlike in Gaborone, we are thrilled to see that there are at least a small number of people on bikes here! Not surprisingly, there is no private vehicle ownership at all in Mutjiku or in the nearby villages. When they were dreaming up the idea of a bike shop project, Erasmus and Ludwig actually conducted a survey about bicycle use here. They came up with 213 bicycles currently in service in the Caprivi region, and a startling 318 that are off the road awaiting repair.

With a total population of roughly 19,500, there is obviously a long way to go with increasing bicycle transit in Caprivi, but we're thrilled to be looking at tripling the number of bikes in use with the donation shipment. And what's more, with Makveto supplying much needed parts and mechanical service, the 318 bikes that are off the road will hopefully be up and running soon, where previously there was little hope for them at all.

Long time, no post!

2009-11-12T12:39:00.000-08:00

Thanks for bearing with these sporadic updates. A brief note: Internet connections have proved very challenging to acquire in Namibia, which is no surprise, really, as the region we have been working from is very remote. As in, no running water and no electricity, THAT kind of remote.

Please bear with me as I update as frequently as I am able to. Photos are particularly difficult, as they require a strong connection, so rest assured mountains of pictures will go out as soon as the connection is fast enough. OK, on to some updates!

Dialing it in

2009-11-09T03:19:00.000-08:00

Final flashback, three days ago:

Back at Bones' shop, we had work to do. Jerry, Bones, Matt, Ken, and I tore into the project of making Bones' shop a more inviting retail space, and one that would get more people out on bikes. We unpacked four big boxes of parts and accessories that we were donating to Bones and that were such a nightmare at customs. We used them to fill the racks behind his counter space and under the service counter, neatly presented and organized. We also went through pricing with Bones on all of these items, striking balances between what the local people could afford and what Bones needed to make to keep the lights on.

As we worked a very tall man came in with a very big bike. He introduced himself as David and we quickly learned that he is someone we had been emailing with for several weeks. David is an American who is living in Gaborone with his family and working on aid programs for several months. He was an early customer of Bones', and he gave us an idea of what it was like to bicycle for transportation in Gabs. He assured us that it was more than viable to get around on a bike, and said that after getting a child seat from Bones one of the best experiences he has had in Gaborone is that of riding around town with his son on the back of his bike. He says that no one here has seen this and people fall over themselves to look and smile when they do.

Then it was bike time. We wanted the bright space at the front of the shop to have an enticing display of the bicycles in Bones' inventory, looking like they were eager to take their new owners to work, to school, or to health care by dicing through the traffic jams and leaving frustrated drivers in their wake. We set to cleaning and tuning every bike Bones had for sale. We installed kick stands and lined them up with price tags clear as day on each one.

While we were in the middle of this, Boz stopped by for a brief visit. He was a contracting consultant working for the government of Botswana with the purpose of finding worthy and viable local businesses who would sustain themselves, grow, and most importantly to the government, employ local people. Bones' shop was a natural fit, and Boz sat down with Matt and Ken to show them the methods in which he was training Bones to deal with the financial side of Jonmol. We were impressed that cost of this federal program, which was covered primarily by the diamond industry, was being used in what seemed to us to be the perfect way. To mentor local businesses, help them find success, and create jobs for the people in their communities. We found Boz and his methods for training Bones to be top-notch, and may even work with him directly to find future candidates for Mike's Bikes Sister Shops.

The final thing that happened that afternoon at Jonmol was a pow-wow with the entire crew. Matt led the discussion and it focused on the importance of good service. He stressed the fact that every bike on the sales floor needed to be perfectly tuned and presented, saying that these bikes should be so good that the Jonmol guys would "want their mothers to ride home on them." Best practices were discussed with regard to repair services, and then finally some grassroots marketing. We dropped off 2000 stickers with the Jonmol logo and contact info for the guys to do a little guerrilla marketing. We were thrilled to hear that Jonmol had already organized and sponsored several group riding events, including the Enviro Cycling Challenge which benefitted a local charity and apparently had an overwhelming turnout.

In the some of the short remaining time before we bid farewell to Bones and the boys at Jonmol, we discussed ways that they could push these grassroots efforts even further. Not only would this show of public bicycle force promote their own business, but it would help make the bike become more 'cool' in Gabs, and in time might help the people of Gaborone to understand the freedom, mobility, and simple joy that only a bicycle can give.

Bicycle retail 101. Or maybe 37.

2009-11-09T02:32:00.000-08:00

Still flashing back, three days ago:

The reason we had come to Gaborone was not to tour Jonmol Bicycle Services, visit Bones, or even to check in for a face-to-face update. We had made this excursion on our Africa trip to try to identify the challenges he was having with his shop after a year of existence, and to do that best that we could to help him solve the problems and become self-sufficient.

During our look around the place, we talked with Bones and Jerry about some of the difficulties they were having at the shop. The first thing on our minds was to get a sign out front as soon as possible. After a little nosing around, we found the old sign that we had made for the shipping container which had brought so many people to Bones' shop while we had unloaded and set up last year. Arrangements were made immediately with his landlord and a metalworker next door to mount the sign at the entrance to the alley. One down.

In the front room, there was a new 16" kids' bike that had come with a tire that had a huge gash in it. Since the only distributor available to him was out of that size, Bones was stuck with the bike as dead inventory. We'll help by sending some of the tires with our next container of donation bikes, but that will take time to get to him. He also had repair bikes requiring 27" tires that were stuck in limbo because of the same supply problem, which again we pledged to help supply them during the container shipment.

These issues with his distributor brought us into a conversation of stocking levels with Bones. We stressed to him that since he now had a little capital from the sale of the donation bikes, he would need to identify parts that he did not have in advance of needing them whenever possible, so that he could order when the distributor had stock and not be stuck when they did not. We helped him get together want-lists and assisted with some rudimentary stock planning and scheduling. This way he would be best equipped to keep the bikes in Gabs rolling with the service they needed. This was the only way for the bikes to be of use to their owners, thereby making them a viable transportation option for the people of Gabs.

After seeing the defective tire on the kids' bike, we did a little survey of what bikes Bones had for sale. The good news was that he had sold completely through the entire lot of 404 donation bikes from our first bike drive, which is extremely gratifying because it literally means there are over 400 more cyclists in Gabs than there were before our Africa Bike Drive. The bad news was that distributor limitations and costs meant that Bones' bicycle stock was now fairly low and priced higher than the original load of second-hand bikes.

He had about six kids' bikes in stock, which he told us would likely move quickly with the Christmas season approaching. All of them were leaned up against each other, untuned, and with cardboard and bubble wrap all over them. His most basic adult bike was a Raleigh Rhino, which was an ideal bike for Gabs, because it was less expensive than almost anything else available and was very durable and useful with its single-speed drivetrain and full fenders and rear cargo rack. In short, a very similar transportation bike to what you see in cities across the U.S. Bones had a couple of Rhinos in stock and also a few Raleighs that were a step up with full ranges of gears, aluminum frames, and front suspension. Not a one of them was in an acceptable state of tune, however, with packaging still attached, brakes, shifters, and handlebars improperly positioned and adjusted, and parked in corners of the back room or hanging up out of view. The final bikes we found in his stock were some Humber-style bikes from Raleigh, which are the classic full-fender heavy steel bikes that are popular in European city centers. These were quite beautiful, and almost as inexpensive as the Rhino, but one wouldn't have known they even existed because they were hanging up in a dark corner and wrapped up in packaging. Just a single one of Bones' entire stock of bikes was priced.

At this point we felt we had to show Bones the importance of presenting his wares in such as to add value to them. He needed to have the people who walked through his door get excited about riding bikes, and to convince them that a bicycle was a better buy than a month's worth of cramped, slow, noisy, combi-van transit rides. I was surprised when the guys at Jonmol told me that in rapidly-developing Gaborone, a bicycle needed to not only appear to have value, but also needed to actually be seen as cool. This brought me back to the days before hipsters, when urban bike riding still had to overcome that ages-old 'cool' stigma. Ah, memories.

To help with this, we brought Bones to the mall. Gaborone has indoor malls, and though most of the population can't afford to shop at them, everyone thinks that what is sold there is cool. Walking through the mall which looked very much like one or our malls in the States, we showed Bones the ways in which these stores presented their product to the buyer. Clean, shiny, front-and-center in bright window displays, and priced so that anyone would know the value of the products simply by looking at them.

Over coffee at the mall, Ken and Matt went over Bones' financial records with him, and gave him lots of coaching from the retail 101 playbook. Supply-and-demand, profit-and-loss, how to control inventory and record wholesale costs and sales were all discussed. This was a lengthy talk, but we were pleased to learn that a business development representative from the government of Botswana had been mentoring Bones on running Jonmol in the recent months, and would continue to do so. His name was Boz and we would later have a fascinating meeting with him at the shop.

The whole purpose of our Africa Bike Drive project in the first place was to get Bones and Jonmol Bicycle Services to a place where they would be completely self-sufficient, and thereby enable the people of Gaborone to have a continuing and long-term source of bicycle transportation. After taking a hard look at the numbers, we were pleased to see that much progress had been made. But we learned that there was still a ways for Bones to go before he would be able to cover all of his costs. Since the container bikes had been sold, he was moving bicycles at the rate of just 10 per month. He would need to double or triple that to ensure the long-term viability of his shop, and we came away from the morning with the knowledge that at the very least many of the seeds of his success had been planted.

One year on: a tour of Jonmol Bicycle Services

2009-11-09T00:20:00.000-08:00

Flashback to three days ago:

For those of you that weren't tuned in last year, we established Jonmol Bicycle Services with Jon "Bones" Moletsane in Gaborone, Botswana, with a lot of hard work, a lot of investment, and 404 bicycles generously donated from our customers. Though Ken and Matt were in Gabs to help Bones create the shop last year, this was the first time they had been back since, and of course it was the very first time I had ever seen the shop.

What struck me initially about Jonmol was nothing. Literally nothing at all.

Bones' shop was located inside a private alley of sorts off of a busy one-way street in a bustling commercial district. And though there were signs everywhere for every kind of business imaginable, Jonmol had no sign that was at all visible from the street. Once we pulled into the alley, I finally saw the sign that I'd seen in so many pictures before. But if I were a passerby. . . well, I'd have just passed on by.

When we arrived at the door of the shop, I was impressed by the large glass windows that let sun into Bones' front room, they were huge, just like the windows in the fronts of our shops. The problem was that they were also completely empty. There were no shiny bikes to entice folks that were walking by, or even to let them know what Jonmol was selling at all.

Bones welcomed us warmly and introduced us to his crew. He had three employees who all met us with big warm smiles: Jerry, who was essentially his right hand man, and two mechanics, Tambudzaxi, and Tshepo.

While touring Bones' shop, I was pleasantly surprised with the layout and size of the place. The front room was a nice, light, and airy spot with a tall counter and a wall of parts and accessories behind it.

While the floor space in front of the front windows was troublingly empty, there were a handful of partially-built kids' bikes against the brick wall. I really got a kick out of the printed photos that were up in the front room—the staff and some local bicycling events were represented, and there were even a few from when we brought Bones to California last December.

The back room and workshop presented some more challenges, and luckily, some bright spots too. It was quite big, but dark, with just some small windows on one wall and relatively poor fluorescent lighting. There were quite a few bikes around, both hanging from the ceiling, and neatly stacked in rows against each other, with a loose system of organization. It included the standard bike shop breakdown: Bikes that were awaiting work, awaiting parts, completed repair bikes, and new ones for sale (most only partially built, however).

The workshop area had a nice counter with display shelves underneath (sporting messy piles of parts and accessories inside them). It had two workstands that were being used a bit differently in orientation than we tend to use in the U.S., and there were lots of seemingly random parts all over the workbench, shelves, and on cardboard sheets on the ground.

One of the highlights for me was their wheel truing stand, which was simply the chopped rear triangle of a bike frame that could be placed in a workstand. The wheel to be straightened was bolted into the frame and the brakes were used to as a reference point for adjusting the spoke tension to true the wheel. A loosely organized tool wall, which seemed to have all of the basics covered, completed the work space.

The last bit of our tour of Bones' shop was the electric-blue-painted office off the front room. Like many other things here, it was both very basic and surprisingly modern, with a simple desk and a few chairs. Not much else was there other than some papers and ledgers and the small netbook-style computer we provided him with last year. And Bones' personal bike was in the office, a nice black GT Avalanche with Shimano Deore components. It looked clean and well maintained, the type of bike that you could tell the man takes pride in. We could relate.

Gabs needs bikes

2009-11-07T22:23:00.003-08:00

Gaborone, Botswana is a place of many contradictions, and this is what fascinated me most over the brief time that I spent there. These contradictions really hit home as we crossed town on our way to Bones' shop.

In the space of a half-hour drive, we passed through entire neighborhoods of corrugated metal shacks and dirt roads with chickens and children playing in the dust. There were shells of stripped cars on the sides of these roads, and everywhere there were people walking. And walking, and walking, and walking, sometimes with their burdens of goods balanced impossibly on their heads.

Yet directly adjacent to these places were areas of dramatic development and, frankly, consumerism gone wild. There were strip malls, indoor malls, car dealerships, and billboards everywhere in Gabs. Many of the residential neighborhoods looked like lower middle class U.S. suburbs in fact, and there was, to me, an almost shocking amount of construction going on. All over the city there were buildings and roads being built. Development in Gabs was very clearly on the rise.

A side effect of this situation that was extremely relevant to our mission was the traffic. Some of the traffic jams we encountered, particularly when you compare them to the lack of population density, were just horrendous. It could easily take an hour to go 10 miles at the wrong time of day. And the lines for the combi transporters, which are privately owned vans that serve as public transit in Gabs, sometimes stretched for hundreds of yards (or meters, as it were). These lines were where people waited to pack into the combis and sit in traffic just like we were doing. With public transit in this kind of state, it quickly became clear why there were so many people walking everywhere. Despite the fact that the city of Gaborone is very low-density and very spread out—meaning that it would probably take a very long time to get where you're going—there were always throngs of people walking from place to place.

One thing we saw almost none of, until we arrived at Bones' shop, were people on bicycles. And yet, the city was in many ways so utterly ready for this most perfect form of transportation. Almost all of the major thoroughfares were wide enough to allow bicycle traffic alongside the cars. In addition, there was an entire network of dirt paths along all of the major routes where people were walking. Most of these paths were easily wide enough to share with bikes. And unlike, say San Francisco, the city of Gaborone is utterly flat. One could ride across town to work without sweating any more than they would on an easy stroll.

It was crystal clear to us that so many people here could have their lives completely transformed by a simple bicycle, and we needed to help Bones make that happen.

Final destination achieved: Buffalo on the Caprivi Strip in Namibia

2009-11-07T06:48:00.000-08:00

A quick update:

After our long journey across North-Central Namibia we have arrived at our new home for the next few days, a camp at Buffalo Game Park on the Caprivi Strip. Peace Corps Volunteer Kami, who drove with us from Windhoek yesterday, and who continues to be instrumental in our efforts here, has lived at this camp for a year and is proving to be both an invaluable link between us and the people of this area and a truly excellent host.

I almost cannot form words for the things we saw during our drive here, though I'll certainly try in a future post that's not a truncated update. I also am completely blown away by our camp, which is a series of primitive (by Western standards) mud-clay huts crafted in the local style that manage to somehow be charming, comfortable, and utterly ingenious.

Yet our experience this morning at Erasmus' family compound, to me, completely surpassed everything that has come so far. In addition to Erasmus, we met Ludwig, Elisabeth, and Mukena, who will be the crew at the Makveto bike shop. And what a crew they are! The work and planning they have done so far, without yet even having seen the container of bikes, has completely astounded us. And they were incredibly gracious hosts, taking us on a lengthy tour of the family land and giving us an unforgettable window into their daily lives. This tour has left a mark on me that will last a lifetime, and I'll detail it in a forthcoming post here.

One large hiccup from our first day here: We were expecting the container of bikes to arrive at the shop site this morning on Erasmus' compound, and it did not come. Shockingly, there is a cell signal here (which is nearly as incredible as anything we've yet seen), and a call came through to let us know that it will arrive early tomorrow morning. Needless to say our fingers, and those of the Makveto crew, are crossed. Hard.

On the road again

2009-11-05T22:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday after bidding a fond farewell to Bones and the boys at Jonmol Bicycle Services in Gaborone, we hopped a plane back to Johannesburg and then another out to Windhoek, Namibia. We spent the evening dining with Peace Corps Volunteer Kami who works with the villages we're headed to and who will be traveling with us today and helping us to establish the new shop in Divundu. We also had the invaluable company of Clarisse from the Bicycle Empowerment Network, who is taking us to some of their upstart shops in the Windhoek area as we head out of town this morning.

It will be something like 10 hours until we reach the villages on Namibia's Caprivi strip. Connectivity continues to be a challenge, so once again this must be just a brief update. The whole story of our time with Bones will be posted here as soon as we have the connection to do it. 'Til then, it's time to hit the road!

If you're trying to clear customs in Gaborone, Botswana with several boxes of bicycle parts, you may want to budget more time than your flight took.

2009-11-05T03:22:00.000-08:00

Literally.

The turbo-prop flight (a little bumpy for my already-queasy stomach, thanks) from Jo'burg to Gaborone took a little over an hour.

Clearing customs took almost three.

We were quite thankful that our checked bags along with all four boxes of much-needed supplies that we brought for Jonmol Bicycle Services made all three of our flight legs and arrived safe and sound in Botswana's one-room and non-air-conditioned airport. Little did we know, however, getting them into the airport would prove to be much easier than getting them out.

Our two customs agents were understandably baffled when we insisted that the contents of our boxes were a donation of bicycle parts, since they really had no idea who the heck would need or want bicycle parts in Gabs (as Gaborone is affectionately known to locals).

What made the process drag on for hours was that the agents, really just trying to do their jobs, insisted on counting and cataloging every single thing we brought in. This gets to be pretty challenging when you have to explain things like what a replacement bicycle handlebar grip is used for. It was also an eye-opener for me as to how "official" things work in this part of Africa. Nothing is rushed or formal in any sort of authoritative way like it would have been as a U.S. airport, and there was lots of back and forth banter and certainly some, let's say fudging, of the numbers here and there.

Once all of the boxes were opened, unpacked, counted (including hundreds of inner tubes), the haggling began. Since the purpose of the goods and our mission didn't really fit neatly into any of the Botswana standards for customs charges, duties, VAT fees and the like, Ken and Matt had some negotiating to do. After going round and round at the counter with our friendly agents, they ended up having a sit-down in the customs office (more of a walk-in closet really).

After at least another half hour of discussion, everyone emerged weary but smiling. The charge ended up at 10% of the value of our donated bike parts, dutifully "estimated" by the customs staff. While it was no paltry sum in the end, it could have been higher even than the wholesale price we paid for the parts and accessories in the first place, which wouldn't have gotten a smile from Ken or Matt, that's for sure.

To see more pictures of our adventure at the airport in Gaborone, Botswana, click for here.

We're Alive and Well

2009-11-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

Yet internet connections here in Botswana are anything but. I'm posting via text message so the full story from our last two days in Gaborone will have to wait until tomorrow's layover back at the Johannesburg Airport. Suffice to say for now that Bones and his boys have made amazing progress, and also have a very long way to go. We spent all day today attacking the problems and challenges that face a fledgling bicycle store in Botswana. We took plenty of pictures of course, so be sure to tune in tomorrow for a whole bunch of updates. It's bedtime here, and in the morning our all-too-brief stay in Botswana will end with a flight to Windhoek, Namibia by way of Johannesburg, South Africa. Zoom!

Touchdown in Johannesburg

2009-11-03T03:30:00.000-08:00

Matt (right, in green) and I (center in maroon) as we deplaned in Johannesburg. Obviously we were feeling pretty good to be back on the ground and walking around.

Now there is just one more short flight until we're in Gaborone, Botswana. The biggest challenge at the moment is trying to find a way to be sure that our 7 boxes worth of bike shop supplies actually make the connection to the prop plane we'll be taking.

We will meet Bones at his bike shop, Jonmol, immediately when we get into town tonight. As someone who has worked in five bicycle stores spanning my entire adult life, I'm anxious to see the space in person, to walk around it, breath it in, and feel what our first Sister Shop in Africa is like in the flesh. I'll be sure to post pictures both here and en masse at the Mike's Bikes Flickr page.

So, how do we pass this bit of layover time? Working, apparently

En Route! Five Hours Down, Fifteen to Go.

2009-11-03T01:12:00.000-08:00

We're having coffee at JFK International Airport in New York City after a red-eye flight last night from San Francisco. And your author, who is not much good at sleeping on planes, has definitely made this red-eye live up to its name.

Our flight to Johannesburg, South Africa leaves in a couple of hours and is a whopping fifteen hours long. Yep. Fifteen hours. Possibly longer, depending on winds apparently.

Ken and Matt have been through this, but I've never been on an airplane anywhere near that long. I'd better learn to how to sleep on planes real quick, or I won't be much good to anyone once we get to Africa.

The final leg of our journey to Botswana will involve a short connecting flight from Johannesburg to Gaborone, where we'll need to move quick to help Bones with his shop as we only have two days on the ground there before we head to Namibia.

And the whirlwind has begun, now time for more coffee. . .

In Matt's Words: Our First Sister Shop in Botswana, 2008

2009-10-31T18:46:00.000-07:00

Jonmol Bicycle Services in Gaborone, Botswana, was the first Mike's Bikes Sister Shop. A fascinating read for anyone who is interested in what it takes to make something like this happen, here is a day-by-day account written by Mike's Bikes co-owner Matt that describes exactly how a container full of donated bikes becomes a community bike shop in a community where there are no, well, bike shops.

From challenges with simply finding the container, to transporting it to the shop location, to procuring building materials, to being swamped with customers before they were even open, to (yes, in classic Mike's Bikes style) epic hangovers, Ken and Matt's experience helping Bones establish Jonmol Bicycle Services was one of many challenges and many rewards.

Read all about it here.

Our First Foray Into Africa: Ghana 2007

2009-10-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

It seems like so much has happened since Ken and Matt first got their feet wet in the world of Africa bicycle philanthropy. And indeed much has happened, but things all started with a trip to Ghana just two years ago.

Ken and Matt teamed up with the California Bicycle Coalition to provide an entire course of hands-on instruction and mentoring for individuals who wanted to start their own bike shops in Ghana. Like most of Africa, the bicycle is almost a nonexistent thing in that country, so giving individuals the ability to bring bicycles to their communities would literally mean giving the population access to bicycles on the whole.

It was a life changing experience for them both.

Click here to read Matt's account of their time in Ghana.

So, What's the Plan Anyway?

2009-10-27T19:49:00.000-07:00

It's simple, really.

All we need to do is fly to Gaborone, Botswana (by way of New York and South Africa), meet up with Bones at his shop Jonmol Bicycle Services (the first Mike's Bikes African Sister Shop), find out what challenges he is having in providing bicycles to his community, solve them all, and help him prepare to receive the next container of 400 bicycles (generously donated by our customers) which is nearly ready to ship out from our warehouse in San Rafael, California. All in the space of about three days, give or take.

Then all we'll have left to do is fly to Windhoek, Namibia to meet up with our indispensable helper-on-the-ground Kami and pow-wow with the Bicycle Empowerment Network while we're there. The next day we'll drive 10 hours across the Kalahari Desert to the village of Divundu. There we will meet Erasmus and Ludwig, and hopefully the container of 466 donation bicycles that we shipped out two months prior, but which has encountered the bad luck of a cargo ship breakdown, and will, fingers crossed, be arriving in Divundu right about when we are. We'll then unload the container as it will be used as the space for Erasmus and Ludwig's Sister Shop. Oh, and we'll have to build and tune the bikes, teach Erasmus and Ludwig how to service bicycles and how to effectively run a bike shop top-to-bottom, and establish supply lines for consumables like tubes and chains. And we'll have a whole 9 days to do it, give or take.

What could possibly go wrong?

Headed to Hotter Climes. . .

2009-10-26T17:22:00.001-07:00

This pile of donated bikes seemed to be enjoying their stay in the Mike's Bikes Warehouse in San Rafael. Shaken from their slumber, we loaded all 466 of them onto a container ship bound for Walvis Bay, Namibia.

Their ultimate destination, the village of Divundu, where we will be headed next week, has been clocking days with ambient temps over 100 degrees this week. Hope these intrepid bicycles are ready for that kinda heat. More to the point, I hope we are too. . .

birdseye
Originally uploaded by Mike's Bikes