Hi all,
Back in the day at RIBs we used to periodically ship excess bikes we had to Ghana. I don't remember anymore what the entity that did the shipping and organization for that was, only that last time I checked five or so years ago, they had long since ceased operation. I even contacted one of the organizers directly and they had no connections to share or interest in resurrecting their past project. It was a total dead end, and I never had the extra bandwidth to create a new effort on my own or deepen/broaden my search.
So what I'm hoping to hear from people is whether they know of, and have contact info for, any current entities doing this kind of work. Loading up shipping containers or tractor trailers with bikes and shipping them off to places in the world with both a shortage *and* a capacity to fix them.
One thing I heard from people when I was doing the rounds last time was that some of the entities that took the bikes either sold them for scrap, or dumped them off without knowing what was done with them after delivery, which ultimately turned out to be to sell them for scrap. The obvious worst case scenario for such an effort. So I'm also hoping to hear about any vetting that has been done, or firsthand experience with the downstream of such a project.
Thanks for any leads or info, cyclistas!
Hope y'all are doing well,
~cyclista Nicholas