By Sara Nerone | Founder
Dear Donors,
Thanks to you, we have given 121 girls new bikes since January 2015. A group of volunteers from the U.S. and myself just returned from Vietnam, and while we were there we were able to meet some of the girls receiving Rock-Paper-Scissors Bikes. It’s a great experience and joy to see the girls when they ride off down the road on their new bikes. Please check out this short video to see for yourself the sweet and happy smiles on this group of girls. They are from a small ethnic minority village called Suoi Cat. They were all quite characters and having a lot of fun as you can see!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-mMt2oV-WY
This year we are very excited to be setting up a new program to maintain and repair the bikes that we have given to the girls. Obviously one major problem with handing a girl living in poverty a new bike is what happens when it breaks down. How do they have them repaired and pay for new parts and tires? So our plan is to find two local women in need of income, hire them, and train them in bike repair. Once trained we will have them visit the schools where we have donated bikes and work on any needed repairs and maintenance while the girls are in school during the day. Women don’t typically work on bikes in Vietnam, but we say, why not? Once we get this program started, it will be the first of its kind in Vietnam.
We plan on piloting this program in 2015-2016 by starting out small and gradually increasing the number of women we train to repair the bikes. We have started to interview women for the position, and will keep you updated on our progress!
Do you remember My, one of the girls we met at our bike giving a few months ago? My has kidney disease and comes from a very large, and poor family. She has been sick for eight years. This summer, while in Vietnam we visited My and her family. We learned more about the medical care My needs, and will be raising money to help her family pay for her $10 monthly medications and additional medical care as she needs it. She was so happy to host us at her house for a visit. Life is very hard for her and her family, and her parents struggle to keep her and her six younger siblings fed and in school. My is still the top of her class at school and last year did not miss one day! She is so enthusiastic and loving, we are so happy to have met My and to be able to help her.
Since January 2015, we have given 121 bicycles away and in 2014, 200 girls received new bicycles. We plan on giving 50 bikes through our new partners in Hue at the beginning of the school year. Each of you receiving this letter has volunteered to help encourage these girl’s to continue to go to school to improve their lives through their education, and of course provided them with the simple joy and pride of being able to own and ride a new bike to school.
Thank you so much,
Sara Nerone
PS: Please follow us on Instagram and/or Facebook where we post and share many more photos of our Bikes for Girls program. And please email me at: sara@rockpaperscissorchildrensfund.org if you would like to know more about our program, if you would like to volunteer, or you just plain want to say hi!
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