Late October Shipping Party: WPSO, Uganda - completed
eMail from Irene, after receipt & unpacking of the container in April ...
"It took me sometime to update you on the Chicago shipment because we have been trying to establish a Bicycle center in one of the districts in Western Uganda and which is actually taking some time. We off-loaded the Chicago Shipment towards the beginning of April and we counted over 545 bikes with a number of spare parts which actually was a huge number considering that we had to pay some good amount of money in demur rage costs which had accrued as we tried renewing our tax waiver status/letter. Thank you Working Bikes for the shipment and we were actually out of stock after 7 days. We had maximize to on the sales due to the high costs that we had incurred in demurage as well as high transport costs brought about by increasing fuel prices.
We also have a group called the Mbarara Farmers Association Group that PSO partnered with to set up a bicycle center in Mbarara district, purchased 23 bicycles on the last shipment that will be given to their successful model farmers (agricultural based farmers) to access markets for their goods. We are still in talks with this group on how we should set up a bike center, (they have a lot of land) and how we could improve transport in the area with fuel prices sky rocketing as well their incomes. We are preparing some stories and will send them when they are ready.
I have attached some pictures, feel free to put them on your website ..."
WPSO, Uganda, 2011
350 used adult bikes with front wheels removed
120 used adult bikes with both wheels removed
86 used child bikes complete
47 used extra wheels (most with used tires on them)
87 used tires
2 scooters (not electric)
1 used bike stand
1 basketball hoop
5 boxes of parts (without the boxes)
We will be filling another container with bikes on Wednesday, October 27th.
These bikes are going to the Women's Prisoner Support Organization in Uganda.
We have a large group of volunteers already committed to help us with this mid-week shipment, but feel free to come along and lend a hand!
