By Ivy Pribish
No flags, no benchmarks, no water stations along the way.
Emmanuel Yeboah was on his own when he made it his goal to bike across Kenya. But along with the lack of a racetrack, Yeboah was missing something far more vital – the use of his right leg.
Volunteers and supporters of Bikes not Bombs (BNB), a Jamaica Plain-based non-profit that sends bicycles to developing countries, met in the City Year Headquarters on Columbus Avenue Nov. 6 to discuss BNB’s mission and view a film about Yeboah’s work and BNB’s efforts in Ghana.
The main event of the evening was a screening of a documentary called “Emmanuel’s Gift.” According to the film, 10 percent of the citizens of Ghana are disabled. Yeboah’s work has positively affected public perception and quality of life for him and other disabled Ghanaian citizens.
Yeboah rode a bike across Ghana despite his handicap and gained celebrity status in the country. He was given the opportunity to have surgery in the United States and received a prosthetic leg to allow him to ride bikes more easily. He used the grant money he was given from BNB to build wheelchairs for the disabled in Ghana.
BNB helped Yeboah by sending supplies, tools and funding overseas to build wheelchairs for Ghanaian citizens.
“We’ve definitely changed a lot of people’s minds about bikes,” said Elijah Evans, coordinator of the BNB Earn-A-Bike program, where youth can learn about bicycle mechanics.
After the film, BNB founder and international director Carl Kurz discussed the project in Ghana and its relation to the local BNB center in Jamaica Plain.
The organization is meant to bring communities together through education and the distribution of bicycles. Kurz said their work in Boston, as well as abroad, encourages social change toward peace rather than war.
“Bikes not Bombs is about a paradigm shift in America,” Kurz said.
The Boston warehouse collects and fixes old bicycles, then sends them to foreign countries, along with supplies and tools to open bicycle shops. Kurz stressed the importance of dignity and ability to support oneself through a job.
“I think that each individual has the chance to be the most they can be,” he said.
BNB sends the majority of their donated bikes, about 4,500, abroad to sponsors in other countries including Tanzania, South Africa and Guatemala.
They have one new national project each year, Kurz said, and this year the organization is co-sponsoring a bike shop in Koforidua, Ghana.
Although the organization works with countries across the globe, 90 percent of its monetary resources go to funding Boston area projects.
A brief video produced by Allegra Anderson, a junior photography major at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, highlighted Bikes not Bombs’ mission to change the world “one peace at a time.” According to the video, BNB has successfully distributed 32,000 bikes to nine countries for use and resale by foreign partners since its beginning in 1984.
This Saturday, there will be bike drives in both the Department of Public Works Yard, near the corner of Grove Street and Summer Street in Arlington, and Fino Field on Granite Street in Milford.
In total, BNB has 22 bike drives yearly in Boston and surrounding suburbs. It also runs community programs like vocational training, Girls in Action, a youth group for girls 10 to 13 years old. and Earn-A-Bike.
In order to make these endeavors possible, hundreds of volunteers of all ages take part in BNB from different areas of Boston.
Every Wednesday night is volunteer night from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the BNB shop, 18 Bartlett Square, Jamaica Plain.
“It is social and fun.
