How many times have you seen this while abroad? Some poor native walking for miles with an enormous load simply because he had no other form of transport than his feet.
Here in the developed world, we take the transportation of goods for granted. I have a nice spacious trunk in my Honda and if that’s not large enough, I call my buddy Mike who has a pickup truck. Even if I’m not hauling stuff, I can drive, take the bus or hop on my bike.
All of this is a luxury for a good portion of our planet. Simply buying a bag of rice, for example, may involve a mile walk to the nearest store and then a grueling trek back hauling a sack of goods on your head.
Stop for a moment and think how much a simple bike would help out.
That is the philosophy behind Pedals for Progress, a non-profit that seeks to put bikes under the bums of needy people around the world. The concept is easy. People like YOU pull out that old bike that has been sitting in storage since high school and simply donate it.
Since its inception, Pedals for Progress has received more than 100,000 donated bikes which they then deliver to “poor people overseas [who] need cheap, non-polluting transportation to get to jobs, markets, customers, and schools.” Pretty cool!
So, next time you’re in Sri Lanka and see some kid tool by on a Schwinn ten-speed, stop and wave. That just might be the one I rode in high school.