10:30-3:30

Bikes Not Bombs newest international project will set up a bicycle workshop to employ a staff of disabled mechanics in Ghana. On April 26th, BNB will send a shipment of nearly 500 donated bicycles to get the project started. We start at 10:30 am and work until we finish, which we expect to be around 3:30 pm. Volunteers, come for any part of this time that works for you! We'll take a break around 1pm for a pizza lunch (provided) and a short talk about the project. Experience not required. Check in before bringing a large group of volunteers.

This new project is a partnership with a foundation in Ghana created by an extraordinary man, Emmanuel Yeboah who rose up from disability and poverty to help others with disability. His story is documented in the film Emmanuel's Gift, which you can see at Bikes Not Bombs on April 12th at 7pm (see separate Event listing) or rent from your local movie store. Thanks to filmmakers Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern for the film, and Tufts University alums and departments for supporting this project.

Once our 40 foot shipping container reaches Koforidua, Ghana, it will be put on the ground, the bicycles will be unpacked, and doors and windows will be cut in the metal sides. This and a second container purchased locally will become the structure of the new workshop with a roof between them. The shop is being designed to fit the reach of mechanics in wheelchairs and will employ a full staff of disabled mechanics. Along with the container, we are sending David Branigan, a BNB Bike Shop staff mechanic who also has 3 years of Peace Corps experience in Ghana. David is a perfect choice to spend the first 8 months with the project, training the mechanics and setting up the workshop.

Emmanuel Yeboah was born with a severely deformed leg. The stigma of disability is strong in Ghana – Emmanuel escaped the infanticide that is not uncommon for disabled newborns, but his father abandoned the family. Emmanuel’s mother enrolled him in school and taught him that he deserved the same opportunities as everyone else, but when she fell ill he left school and took up shining shoes on the street to support the family. After his mother’s death left Emmanuel an orphan he began a personal campaign to spread the empowering philosphy he learned from her. From foreign aid workers he heard of a foundation to help disabled athletes and he wrote a letter requesting a bicycle, with a dream of cycling across Ghana to raise awareness and respect for the disabled. Emmanuel received the bike, made the cross-country trip using one leg, and his determination coupled with his unusual story led to more opportunities: a trip to the US to compete in paralympics, a prosthetic leg, a second cross-Ghana bicycle trip, the film Emmanuel’s Gift, recognition from government officials including a new law in Ghana mandating improved access for disabled people, and lastly a foundation to create employment and sports opportunities for disabled Ghanaians. It is this foundation which is partnering with Bikes Not Bombs to create this exciting new project!

DIRECTIONS: This event does NOT happen at Bikes Not Bombs. We will be loading from a big parking lot at 179 Boylston St., Jamaica Plain, 2 blocks from the Stoney Brook T stop on the Orange Line. Coming from the BNB Hub at 284 Amory Street, turn right on Amory (which puts you travelling away from the Green St T stop, towards the StoneyBrook T stop). Turn right on Boylston Street (where the StoneyBrook T stop is on your left) and then turn right into a large parking lot which is part of the Brewery Complex. You'll see our 40 ft. shipping container parked in this lot, just off the street.