What happened to the 2010 Giant Bike Donation?

Presentation of the main "service and learning activities" for the NTHU/OVF Ghana Service Program 2010

One of the things that the oneVillage Foundation (OVF) refers to as its 2010 accomplishments is the Bike Ghana Project, where 102 used bicycles of the Giant brand were donated by the Cycling Life Style Foundation in Taiwan through the fundraising efforts of the students of the National Tsing Hua University (NTHU):

07.13.10 | Taipei Taiwan – OVF and 10 National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) International Volunteer students secured a donation of 102 used Giant bicycles. Giant is a leading global manufacturer of high quality mountain and conventional street bikes.

OVF Ghana Receives 102 Bikes from Giant Bike Taiwan

In July 2010, the OVF announced that the bikes were to be shipped to Ghana, where they would assist workers engaged in "agricultural production" with limited options for transportation. According to the OVF, these 102 donated bicycles would have a considerable impact on Ghana society, helping not only farmers with transportation but also strengthening Taiwan's reputation as a producer of reliable and useful products:

"The bikes deployed through the Bike Ghana effort initiated by OVF and with the help of the students will be used to assist workers many of whom are engaged in agricultural production in Ghana and have limited transport options. We believe that the introduction of bicycles will help residents improve the efficiency of agricultural transport, while also promoting Taiwan’s reputation to make and distribute reliable and useful products."
http://www.onevillagefoundation.org/giant-bike-donation

 

In September 20th 2010, the OVF posted on its blog that the bikes had arrived in Ghana and would be used in a new project entitled the Taiwan Bike Bike Ghana Project (TBBG):

"oneVillage Foundation Ghana has taken delivery of 102 slightly used bicycles, 51 pairs of brand new bicycle tires, and some maintenance tools, from Giant Bikes Taiwan. The bikes and components are to be used to implement OVF’s Taiwan Bike Bike Ghana (TBBG) Project."

OVF Ghana Receives 102 Bikes from Giant Bike Taiwan

Although the OVF announced that its sponsor was the Giant corporation, the real donor was in fact the NGO sprung out of Giant named the Cycling Life Style Foundation, which has a habit of yearly donating those bicycles being retired from its bike rental services.

The TBBG program was according to OVF aimed at addressing "world urgent issues" and would "encourage a culture of biking in Ghana as means of healthy living" (inspired perhaps by the aims of the Cycling Life Style Foundation?), reduce "manual labour" by farmers and cultural groups through rental bike stations, as well as "reduce carbon dioxide emissions".

It should be noted, however, that whilst many people in Africa cannot afford a car, a bicycle is traditionally the poor man's way of getting around even in farming communities, as long as there is at least a dirt road to use.

The OVF obviously had high hopes and ambitions for these donated bicycles, as expressed by OVF co-worker in Ghana Nii Tete Saashi Koi, who reported in September that:

"We are also going to use the Bikes (Sponsored by GIANT) to help create the awareness, by donating to religious bodies and also use them as a contact point to households and individuals who have the capacity to help to support the Home." Together by Destiny: Holistic ICT for Ecoliving

Although what is meant by a "contact point to households and individuals who have the capacity to help to support the Home..." is left unexplained, it gives the strong impression that bicycles were donated to certain influential members of the Jukwa society to enlist their benevolence vis-a-vis the OVF-supported Stoughton Horizon Orphanage home in Jukwa. This might indeed explain why one of the bikes was given to the Chief of Jukwa himself. However, as one of the earlier posts on this website has shown, there are serious concerns regarding the Stoughton Home and whether it is in fact operating as a legitimate orphanage at all.



Indeed, if the donated bikes were initially supposed to address "urgent world issues", reality would turn out less grand. According to the OVF, part of the Giant bikes were distributed to the Chief, the Mayor, the Education Director and the Police Commander of Winneba (where the OVF office in Ghana is located), members of a local musical group in Jukwa (The Ompeh Group), university and high school teachers, OVF staff, the Chief of Jukwa, local "opinion leaders", an unspecified number of "young girls who walk long distances to school", as well as "selected students" from the Jukwa Senior High School (a prestigious school known for its national sports achievements). Though it is hard to picture the police commander of Winneba cycling to work, could none of these recipients have afforded to purchase a bicycle themselves, if they were keen to be cycling? In any case, none of these recipients were farmers who would use the bicycles as claimed for more efficient transportation of their agricultural produce.

In the end, according to OVF's own report, 20 out of the 102 bicycles were awarded to children from deprived schools. The names of these deprived schools, however, remain known only to the OVF staff themselves.

Of the 102 bikes, another 20 (along with maintenance tools, a mechanized foot pump and 30 extra tires) were given to the Unity Drum Cultural Group (run by Emmanuel Richardson, an employee of the oneVillage Foundation and a close friend of Joy Tang) to set up a bike rental station that would, according to OVF's own account, be able to create employment for the group members and help finance the group.

In its own statements, the OVF has promised that all receivers of the 102 bicycles will fill out questionnaires in view of planning future bike programs. As one can easily imagine, the bike distribution was very popular with those who received free bicycles, and has generated a large interest as well as expectations in the circles surrounding the UnityDrum people for a new distribution in the future.

However generous a sponsor the Cycling Life Style Foundation may be, they will be concerned with the good use of the name of GIANT and how sponsored activities reflect on the brand. The OVF has promised to produce a report about the use of the bicycles in the hope of establishing a long-term partnership with the Cycling Life Style Foundation, which it refers to as Giant. Such a report has yet to surface.

Joy Tang handing over bike donation to members of the Ghana police force

One is left to wonder why OVF will claim such high aims and ambitions in order to secure donations in kind when the reality is that these are used to generate goodwill amongst both the people working for and with OVF in Winneba and Jukwa, as well as securing a favourable attitude towards OVF by local officials.