Gender Equality Vietnam Project #13980

100 Bikes for 100 Girls

by Rock-Paper-Scissors Children's Fund

Project Report | Nov 5, 2018
Bikes for Girls Stories

By Sara | Project Leader

My with her Bicycle

Dear Friends,

Over the next few months, we hope to share some of the stories of girls you have supported through your gift of a bike.

Our first story is about Trang who we met again in July 2018. Trang is 15-years-old and in the 10^th grade, and received her bicycle two years ago from Rock-Paper-Scissors Children's Fund. Trang lives with her four family members; her mom and dad, her eight-year-old brother and her 12-year-old sister. Both of Trang's parents are farmers and work very hard to support their three children. The family lives in an ethnic minority village in rural Vietnam.

It takes Trang approximately 20 minutes each way to ride to school every day including to extra classes on Saturdays. Before she received her bicycle, she walked to school. She told us that on most days she would arrive late because of the long distance and time it took to walk, and that she often felt tired. Trang says that the bike makes her feel much safer, especially now that she is in high school and has to travel in the dark because of late afternoon and evening classes. She also takes her friend to school each day on the back seat, and sometimes her younger brother uses her bike in the afternoon if he has classes.

Trang is a beautiful, talented girl, who works hard in school and dreams of becoming a doctor one day. She really hopes to be able to go to the University after high school. In this community very few students are able to go to the University because of family circumstances due to poverty and the lack of support from their existing schools, teachers and government to pass the entrance exams, especially members of the ethnic minority communities. We do hope that Trang will have the opportunity to continue school.

When we met Trang again in July 2018, her bike needed a lot of repairs, so we invited her to attend our bike repair days at the local school. Her bike received a new seat, wheels, fenders, basket, tires, and brakes.

Thank you for helping to support girls like Trang!

RPS Bike Repair Days

RPS Bike Repair Days 2

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Aug 13, 2018
80 Girls Receive Bikes in July!

By Sara Stevens Nerone | Founder and volunteer!

July 2018 Bike Giving

Dear Friends,

To each of you who have supported us this year and throughout the past years, I want to say thank you! I just returned from Vietnam at the beginning of August after a month long trip to review our programs, work with our Vietnamese staff, and lead a group of volunteers from the states. During the month of July, we gave out 80 new bicycles and helmets, well, 81 to be exact! And since January, 120 girls have received bikes thanks to you.

Each summer my family and I lead volunteers to Vietnam to teach in our art and music after school and summer programs, run our summer camps and take part in giving and repairing bicycles. While we are there we always spend time visiting new communities with our Vietnamese staff, and this summer we visited a small, ethnic minority village up, over and into the mountains of Khanh Hoa in the district of Khanh Son. It was a beautiful drive to a small primary school where we were met by 20 girls and their parents waiting to receive new bikes. It was a great day, ending in an incredible hike up to a remote waterfall with the volunteers and local officials.

By the end of July we had also interviewed 44 girls who had received bikes from us in the past to evaluate how they had been using their bike, how it had held up, who else in their family used it, and other similar questions. We learned so much, and thanks to our volunteers this summer, especially Kate, Kayla, and Michele and our student translators for making this happen. What we learned was that the girls were not only using their bikes to ride to school, but almost 100% they were also supporting a friend getting to school by riding them on the back seat. We also found that mothers often used the bikes to get to work, and other siblings to get to their schools if their school day hours were different than their sister’s. The great news for us is that the program is accomplishing what we set it up to do, and that there isn’t much that we would change! The bikes are so beneficial to the girls and their families.

Another important piece of information that we learned from the girls and their parents is how much safer they feel riding the bikes than walking. It seems that especially the girls in high school are often riding home after dark and if walking, this is a dangerous time for them to be picked up by traffickers, or unfortunately abused by men along the road. Parents were clearly concerned about this, and felt that the bicycle was a much safer way for their daughter’s to travel.

So please accept our greatest thanks for donating the funding for us to purchase the bikes and helmets for the girls. Some day if you travel to Vietnam maybe you’ll see one of your bikes ride by! And if you would like to help us fund raise this fall/winter for us, please send me an email!

Thanks again,

Sara

Riding home!

Pink Helmets!

Happiness

Beautiful bike beautiful girl!

On the way to a bike giving!

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May 14, 2018
Uyen and Her New Bicycle

By Huynh Thi Quynh Giao | Vietnam Program Lead

Uyen and her new bike

Dear Friends,

When I go to each bike giving I like to meet each of the girls, this is why we only give 20 bicycles out at a time. Today I spent time after the ceremony visiting some of the girls at their homes. This is Uyen, who is 10 years old and in the 4^th grade at the Cam Hiep Bac primary school in Vietnam. She has two older brothers, one who is 20 and the other 18. Her mom is a tailor, and her dad, who used to be a farmer, left the family to devote the rest of his life to religion. He now lives in a pagoda and doesn’t see the family at all. Uyen’s mom works very hard on her old, sewing machine making clothes, to support her two sons and Uyen. Her oldest son is going to the local trade college and is a second-year student there.

Meeting with Uyen today I was so impressed to see this tiny little girl who is the size of a 6-year-old. She was smiling and so quick-witted, and the vice principal said that she is one of the top students at the school, and has been for many years. When I was visiting her at her home, Uyen laughed and said that she wanted to eat more so that she could grow taller in order to ride her new bike easily, for now, her mom will ride her to school for her safety. Uyen’s mom said that the whole family is so very grateful and excited to get the new bike and that she and Uyen would share it. She expressed to me that her three kids have been the greatest pride in her life. She is so proud how they have all turned out to be good, kind, people and has studied so hard. She said that one wish she has is that they stay healthy and are able to work and raise their own children with better futures.

I wanted to share Uyen’s story today so that each of you can know about your donation and some of the beautiful girls who are receiving your bikes. Our goal is to give another 400 girls new bikes this year, so thank you kindly for your donation to support this goal. Although we did not win the GlobalGiving Girl Fund this year, during the competition, your donations have provided enough to buy 100 of the 400 bicycles! Thank you!

Giao

Waiting for their bikes

Uyen at home

Uyen and her mom

New bikes

Receiving their bikes

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