The Bike Project
Price restored cycles from £195
To donate or volunteer thebikeproject.co.uk
Often it’s the simplest ideas which make the most sense, and the Bike Project is definitely one of those. The charity’s aim is to “take second-hand bikes, fix them up and donate them to refugees and asylum-seekers”. The only response to that is: “Well, of course!”
It was mentoring a Darfuri refugee while at the LSE, and giving him his old bike, that gave Jem Stein his lightbulb moment. Noticing all the abandoned bikes in the city, he asked himself: “What if they could be rebuilt and given to people who actually need them?” He decided to set up a charity – and five years later the Bike Project has refurbished and donated more than 3,000 bikes to some of the most vulnerable people in London.
“In the capital alone,” says Jem, “it’s estimated that about 13,500 asylum seekers arrive each year. In that same period, at least 27,500 bikes are abandoned in streets, parks and estates across the city.” It’s the Bike Project’s mission to bring those two groups together.
One person who has benefited from the scheme is Ussamane Silla. He arrived in the UK from Guinea-Bissau in 2013. “For a refugee, having a bike is very important,” he says, “because who else will give you the money to travel? Public transport is costly and London is a big place.” Jem spells out the maths: “London is expensive, especially when you’re trying to navigate the asylum process on just £37 a week. No one should have to choose between a meal and catching the bus. A bike can save you £21 a week on fares, which is £1,000 a year.” A bike will help refugees access food banks, legal advice, healthcare, education and much more.
The Bike Project now employs 10 people at its shop in Denmark Hill and its workshop under the arches in Deptford. The charity has several mainstays: it gives away refurbished bikes; it trains some refugees to become bike mechanics; it runs a servicing operation; and it has a website where the best donated bikes are sold to raise funds. Scrolling through the pictures of lovingly spruced-up bikes is addictive. Buy one and you help yourself and a refugee. Looking at the bikes made me think of puppies at the pound waiting to be picked for a new home…
The project’s most recent initiative is cycle training for refugee women, empowering them to take control of their own transport – perhaps for the first time in their lives. The team noticed that almost all the donated bikes were going to men, so they set up women-only workshops to teach women to ride from scratch. Amena arrived from Syria 18 months ago. She says she “knew how to ride a bicycle when I was a little girl – for fun – but not as a grown-up. I was afraid about having an accident.” She joined other women from Eritrea, Albania and Sudan to master their new bikes. One of the project’s cycling instructors, Claire Donaldson, says it’s humbling to witness the joy they feel. “It is amazing to see them transform from hunched and quiet to confident and beaming when they get out in the fresh air on a bike.”
For more information or to donate or volunteer as a cycling instructor, go to the Bike Project. The charity is also holding a comedy fundraiser called Jokes and Spokes on 12 June (eventbrite.co.uk)
Cool kit
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Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166
