Ambanja- A New Bike Partner

In 2023 Bikes for the  World added a new Malagasy community to our bike family with a first container to a co-op known as Ambanja. We first partnered with this health focused program in 2015 and the communities requesting bikes continues to grow. They have trained mechanics and converted shipping containers into rural bike shops to help repair and maintain the bikes we donate. The project builds incentive among volunteer health workers, creates empowering jobs within the community, and helps generate capital for their health initiatives.

Marie, Flovel, and Julienne (above left to right) all received bikes from that initial container which arrived in April 2023. Just last month, Bikes for the World ended 2023 with one of our final containers of the year going to Madagascar as a reshipment to Ambanja. We sent 1,029 bikes to Ambanja in 2023. Because we support several projects in Madagascar, this program receives about 20% of our donated bikes annually. 

Marie is a single mother of three. She is a cocoa farmer in Madagascar and relies on money from the production and sale of cocoa. She is using a bike donated through BfW to carry the cocoa to market, 10 miles from her home. She is saving time on her commute which allows her to spend more time at home with her kids. 

Flovel just picked out his bike from our newest eBox partner in Madagascar (Ambanja). He's a single dad with 2 kids and works as a mason. He no longer needs to pay for transportation and will save $50 a month by riding to work. He looks forward to spending that extra money on his kids.

Julienne, is 16 and attends high school in Ambanja. She lives 3 miles from school. She walked 12 miles every day, going home for lunch and returning for afternoon classes. She found the commute to be tiring sometimes not even going to school because she was so tired. But since her mom got her a bike she is now less tired and more motivated to attend class every day. She also uses the bike to go to the market and run errands for her parents.