Help "Go Free Uganda" get a community bike shop!
Go Free Uganda is a Kampala-based organization led by young volunteers who work with children from impoverished neighbourhoods to give them life and work skills through a community cycling program.
Each Saturday, up to 20 children between the ages of 10 to 15 gather at the bike shop, to borrow bikes and take a 3 hour ride through each other's neighbourhoods. These children face great economic impoverishment during the week, and this is their time to play and be kids, and they often end their ride with a group meal. Some also stop by the shop during the week to learn about bike repair and socialize. The goal of this project is to help the children develop friendships in childhood in order to reduce future inter-community violence, as well as to give the children valuable skills in bike repair, which they can use to make money as they get older. This project has been going on since 2016, and the number of children who want to join is limited only by the number of bicycles available.
Go Free Uganda has recently received bad news: the Fair Trade artisan shop where they have been operating is closing, and they need to find a new location by the end of December. They currently are located close to the six slum communities they serve, and moving far away would really disrupt the impact they are having and make it more difficult for the children to join in the rides. Go Free Uganda has sourced two shipping containers that they can convert into a bike shop and café, to be staffed by the older children in the riding group who have now developed improved social and bike repair skills. They have secured the donation of a lot across the street from their current location, and local zoning officials have approved their use of shipping containers for non-profit purposes.
The cost of two shipping containers is 6000 USD (8000 CAD) and Go Free Uganda needs your help! They are doing amazing work, with a committed staff of young volunteers, and this would be a life-changing development for some of the world's most vulnerable children.
Make a holiday miracle happen, and help Go Free Uganda get a permanent home!
