Three Bikes and a Dream

three bikes and a dream

If you follow us on Facebook, you know we give away a lot of bikes - often so kids have a reliable way to get to school. Secondary schools, in particular, are often too far for them to walk from home, and without transportation, education often falls through the cracks.  That’s no way to reverse the poverty cycle. 

While bikes for school are critical, they also play a role in contemporary community lore. Let us tell you three such bike tales from May.

There’s a young boy, we’ll call him Sareth, who started coming to Heartprint when he was just two or three years old. It was when we were operating out of our volunteer house before we opened the Community Centre.  He’d show up most days pushing an old beaten-down pram.  Just pushing it up and down the dusty road,sometimes huffing and puffing, often grinning,  but never leaving that pram behind.  He was a mobile fixture at Heartprint. As more birthdays passed, he abandoned the pram but never his love of wheels. 

He learned to ride a bike, but didn’t have one of his own, so was always looking out for nearby bikes to borrow  - with or without permission.  

One day he showed up riding a bike that was about four sizes too big for him.  His legs weren’t long enough to reach the pedals from the seat, so he rode standing up, just peering over the handlebars - and to our collective fright - his four-year-old sister was perched on the back.   To top it off, we discovered the bike belonged to his older (and taller) sister, who could not get to school because Sareth kept “borrowing” her bike.

Any way we looked at it, this was not destined to end well.  So Sareth received his own Sareth-sized bike,his sister can get to school, and more people in our community are locking their bikes so eager (but well-meaning) youngsters like Sareth can no longer “borrow” them on a whim.  

Then we have a work trainee we will call Soky.  She’s a young woman living alone in a rented room without family support.  She must have transportation if she has a hope of earning a living wage. She had a bike when she started work, but it was stolen. For a while, she could borrow a friend’s bike to go to and from work, but it was old and not well-kept and finally just broke.  We were able to provide her with money to have the bike repaired, but the reality was she could not rely on her friend’s bike always being available to her, and she could not afford to miss work. We didn’t want the simple lack of a bike to cause her total financial downfall, so one of our generous donors provided one to her.

This will make all the difference.  (Not necessarily related, but good news: She has also been promoted from trainee to full-time staff and will receive health coverage and payment into a pension fund.)

And a PS:  on Soky’s story. It’s not just the physical gift of a bike that makes a difference to her.   Having had to leave home at a very young age, living on her own under difficult conditions, struggling, and trying for so long to improve her life, not just survive - well, the bike also showed her that she isn’t alone.  There are people who care about her, even those who don’t know her.  That shores up her confidence and commitment, and her heart. 

It’s always more than “just” a bike. 

Any volunteers who have been coming to Heartprint over the years know our young friend, Lina. His mom used to work at Heartprint, and his dad still does, on our build team.  Years ago, when Lina was only four, his mum asked if we could give him a bike.  Since she worked for us, and we were about to give her a pay rise, we said we would give her the rise a bit early, and she could use some of that money to buy the bike, as it would mean more if she paid for it out of her earnings. 

She did, and he rode that bike for eight years until it just gave up.  Worn out, not fixable - and certainly now too small.  The family circumstances have changed over the years - another child, only one parent working, and other challenges  - they simply could not buy him a replacement bike.  

Lina had never asked us for anything, not in all the years he had been coming to Heartprint.  We wanted him to have a bike and were happy to be able to provide one. He now picks up his little cousin every day and brings her to the Community Centre for activities and learning. 

It’s never “just” about the bike. But the bike makes almost everything else reachable.  And with your help, we’ve been able to donate 356 bikes. 

Finally, we want you to meet “Phea,” a young woman we have known for seven years.  She’s always had a Big Dream.  
She is part of our Youth Group,  which includes being involved in our career choice activities, either exploring to see what options there are or pursuing an existing passion. 

“Phea’s” passion is fashion design. Ever since she was little she has been sketching and drawing and designing clothing on paper.  We had never found a local designer to work with her, so we got in touch with a friend and supporter in the UK who is a designer.  During COVID,  she put together some videos for “Phea” to help guide her, teach her, and inspire her.  Phea’s also had some training and gotten quite good at graphic design.  It seemed natural to us all that her passion, natural talent, and new skills could be a solid entree for her into the fashion field. 

We needed to find her a mentor or two.  A local graphic designer invited her to do work experience in her spare time and during school holidays.  She also put on a career expo for a wider audience that we attended with “Peah”.

There was a well-known local designer there, and we encouraged “Phea” to go and introduce herself and chat about potential opportunities. She was initially shy but dug deep into what she had learned at our Community Centre about public speaking and engagement.  She lifted her chin, strode across the expo to the designer’s table and introduced herself.  

We didn’t even realize we were holding our collective breath until we saw this well-known designer and “Phea” talking excitedly, nodding their heads, smiling, and laughing.  When we did exhale, we learned the designer had asked “Phea” to come and learn and be trained for free in her chosen field. 

“Phea” will finish her schooling but is now also about to be trained in the field of her dreams.  

This is just one more reason to thank you all for your support.  None of these singular stories about the lives you touch would exist without you. 

And what you accomplished during Match it May:  AU$24,780!!!  You have made it possible for so many more Sareths and Pheas and Sokys and Linas to grow up and into their potential. 

So many Heartprints you have left.  Thank you.