July 2007: The Maya Pedal organization in Guatemala rebuilds used bikes into pedal-powered machines for use by local indigenous farmers: grain grinders, well-water pumps, masa mills, and more. BNB has sent shipments of bikes, and more recently collaborated with MIT engineers to aid this project. Their newest project is a peanut-shelling machine. Maya Pedal's innovative work is inspiring others around the world working on "appropriate technology," which means affordable, locally producible, and truly empowering technology that fits into peoples lives and cultures. Carlos Marroquin is the Mayan engineer who is the lead designer and builder for most of Maya Pedal's machines, and he's been invited to the International Design and Development Summit, July 16 – August 10th, at MIT, which teams up 50 designers to work on technology to aid the developing world. Their projects will be on exhibit August 9th - check http://web.mit.edu/idds for info on seeing the exhibit (closer to the date, no info on the exhibit available yet).

While Carlos is in the Boston area, we hope to host an event for him to speak to the Bikes Not Bombs community - we'll keep you updated!

July 12th and 19th: we can use mechanics to help tune up 6-10 BNB bikes for conference participants, and ride with them back to Cambridge. If you can help, email carlbikesnotbombs.org