Enniskillen Rotary Club remains in top gear in its backing for the Jole Rider (Bikes4Africa) project - an initiative which refurbishes second-hand bicycles, that have been donated, and delivers them to African schools.

On August 13, another load of 37 bikes were transported from Enniskillen Rotary’s collection point at Furnish in Enniskillen to Loughan House outside Blacklion, where they will undergo refurbishment prior to onward shipment to Jole Rider in Gloucestershire. From there they will be containerised and shipped out to Gambia in Africa.

“Here they will be used by deserving secondary school children to transport them to and from school each day,” explained Enniskillen Rotarian John Trimble.

He pointed out that “without the bicycles the children would have to walk miles to school in the sometimes scorching heat, arriving exhausted and unable to benefit from their tuition.” He reported that to date Enniskillen Rotary Club has collected and delivered over 400 bicycles to Loughan House. In an article in The Impartial Reporter last year, the Jole Rider project captured attention as hundreds of bicycles collected by Rotary and ‘made new again’ by prisoners at Loughan House open prison in neighbouring Blacklion were about to embark on a new journey in Africa. Enniskillen Rotarians were joined by fellow Rotarians from a number of clubs across Ireland as they visited the prison just over the Fermanagh border last November to see up to 600 recycled bikes loaded up and ready for shipment to the UK by transport company A1 Transport Solutions.

At that stage, it was recorded Rotary Clubs all around Ireland had collected hundreds of bikes which had been refurbished by the Irish Prison Service and were being shipped to The Gambia by the UK based charity, Jole Rider as part of its Bikes4Africa project.

“These unwanted bikes are going to enable children in The Gambia to get an education,” said a spokesman for the Rotary Club in Ireland, who added “a bike gets a child to school safely, on time and alert instead of exhausted after what can be a seven mile walk in the soaring heat.” During the Rotarians’ visit, they were able to appreciate the work taking place in the Bikes4Africa workshop at Loughan House.

Anyone wishing to donate a bicycle or bicycles, which according to John Trimble “should ideally be robust enough to stand the rough terrain and support teenage children” can either leave them off at Furnish, 8 The Link Road Enniskillen or call Ivan on 07768 000167 who will arrange to have them collected.