When the orupaanga touches the bretch pad on the buryo side, we can tighten the enuti empajye on the bumosho side with the spanner empajye, and that should pull the orupaanga back to the bumosho side. This operation can only be done a certain number of times until we run out of ehuzi ye’mpajye. In that way, each omupiira can only live for so long.

The dominant tribe in this area, and most of south west Uganda are the Bakiga, their language is Rukiga. The Bakiga are one of many tribes speaking one of hundreds of Bantu languages. I vaguely remember something about the Bantu expansion from an undergraduate anthropology course. The internet reminds me that they undertook a massive migration and population increase from an area in modern Cameroon, in a broad south east direction starting perhaps in 1000 BC and continuing to AD 500. Descendants of the Bantu expansion make up the largest ethno-linguistic group in Sub-Saharan Africa. Their migration brought them into contact with indigenous groups like the Batwa, here in Bwindi, and the Khoisan in South Africa. The Batwa, commonly known as Pygmies, have a troubled and seemingly enigmatic history in the area and will be a topic of a subsequent report. All the Mutwa (a Batwa individual) that I’ve met speak Rukiga, and varying levels of English comparable to the Mukiga.

So far I’ve only encountered two locals with whom I can speak in a rapid fire American

dialect. The accent of Ugandan English is heavy and requires patience between both interlocutors. I’ve noticed that two children of American medical volunteers often address the Africans in what sounds to me like a heavy South African accent. The Africans told me that the children lubricate their words and they hear them quite clearly. I’ve yet to muster the audacity or drink enough waragi (banana moonshine) to affect a similar accent but I am considering it. If my wifi connection is strong enough unlikely I’ll re-watch Niel Blomkamp’s 2009 sci-fi film District 9 and maybe give it a try. Meanwhile, one of the most helpful things I’ve done in the bicycle mechanic training, is try and use Rukiga nouns for the bicycle parts. It is much better than using English terms that no one is familiar with, or saying “this one” every five words. Sometimes pronunciation is all that matters, brake becomes bretch, and circle becomes sarcle. A cone nut might not look like an actual cone until someone tells you that is does. If you can’t understand what that someone is saying or don’t know what a ‘cone’ is, how many ‘this ones’ will you be able to file in your mind? Thankfully, everyone seems to understand that an enuti omubirikira kind of looks like an omubirikira.

A phrase favored by my father’s fifth grade math teacher places the burden on the listener:  “when they were handing out brains, you though they said trains, and buddy you missed it.”  Here in Bwindi, the burden is on me, the speaker. If I say cone, and they think I said phone, then no one is going to answer it.

Report number 1

On the long flight to Uganda I reread King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild. The book documents the tragic history of the Congo Free State, the personal colony of Leopold II King of the Belgians from 1885 – 1908. King Leopold made an incredible personal fortune, initially through the Ivory trade, later and more substantially through the harvest of wild rubber. He was able to profit during a short window between the industrial worlds realization of rubber’s value, and the maturation of cultivated rubber trees. In between, an extensive and murderous regime of forced labor was used to harvest wild rubber vines.

A few individuals in the history were of pertinence to Working Bikes. John Boyd Dunlap invented the first pneumatic rubber tire for his son’s tricycle in Ireland in 1887. William Henry Sheppard, an African American minister from Virginia, and early critic of Leopold’s regime, claimed to have been the first person to ride a bicycle in central Africa.

Two containers of bikes are sitting in a small valley. In one direction, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park rises over the adjacent hillside. On the last leg of my arrival, in a 12 passenger Cessna with one propeller, I was able to take it a spectacular view of the forest interspersed with passing through three rain showers. From above, it resembled mountains made of broccoli blossoms. I marveled at the national park before wondering if in decades and centuries past, perhaps this entire region was as lush. This protected patch of 128 square miles are home to half of the worlds remaining population of mountain Gorillas. Over a hill in the other direction lies the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Work on the bicycle program has not quite begun. I am still gathering supplies and being introduced to interested community members. Yesterday I sourced a tub of grease and two bottles of lite lubricating oil from the local hardware store, which was less than half the size of Working Bike’s stock room. We have secured access to a large storage room and shaded veranda in a building a few yards from the containers. I was able to bring two of each common bicycle specific tool in my baggage. An employee from Bwindi Community Hospital is in Kampala, the capitol city, purchasing non-bicycle specific tools today. They should arrive by bus on Friday. This afternoon I’ll continue my introductions, saw a few sheets of working bikes particle board to place over tables that are being temporarily loaned, and begin to get a few bikes in proper order. It is my understanding that our trainees likely do not know how to ride a bike. Learning to ride will be their first introduction to the project.

I’ve been met with both optimism and skepticism about how the project will work and if it can be sustainable. Factors I had not considered include a cultural reluctance for women to ride bicycles. The few flying pigeon style roadsters I’ve seen have been piloted by man. All of the women in the area are seen wearing skirts, so step thru frames may be of a particular advantage. During the mechanic training, our participants will not be paid, and may not be rewarded for some time, until the bikes can be sold. I’ve learned that during the training, lunch will have to be provided and arrangements are being made for a pot of beans to slow cook over embers each day. I’ve been told that Ugandans are entrepreneurial but that it is a society which prioritizes relationships. I’ve yet to meet the trainee mechanics but am beginning to understand that offering 28 days of technical instruction may not be well received unless the trainees are comfortable working together, with me, and understand that their investment in time and learning may not bear fruit for some weeks or longer.

A small group of Working Bikes compatriots attended Bike!Bike! 2017 in Winnipeg, Canada August 24th through 27th. The fourteen-hour drive did not deter the enthusiasm to explore the city and connect with like-minded bike enthusiasts and leaders.

The annual conference brings together bicycle advocates, particularly involved in community bike shops, to exchange ideas to improve their respective organizations and communities. Workshops are requested and led by conference attendees.

Slow Roll Chicago, an organization we have partnered with this summer, presented a workshop entitled “Organizing Community Bicycle Rides as Vehicles for Social Justice & Equity.” Slow Roll Chicago’s co-founder Olatunji Oboi Reed led the discussion that brought up bikes as a means to transform communities and improve lives, which correlate to addressing bicycle equity and social justice. Uniting community members and raising awareness of these issues can be done by organizing neighborhood rides.

Slow Roll Chicago’s co-founder Olatunji Oboi Reed presented a workshop entitled “Organizing Community Bicycle Rides as Vehicles for Social Justice & Equity.” The discussion brings up bikes as a means to transform communities and improve lives, which correlate to addressing bicycle equity and social justice. Uniting community members and raising awareness of these issues can be done by organizing neighborhood rides.

One such ride in Winnipeg is Meet Me at the Bell Tower. Bike!Bike! attendees were invited to join the weekly ride, leaving many transformed and humbled. Co-founded by Michael Redhead Champagne, Meet Me at the Bell Tower is intended to bring the largely indigenous neighborhood of North End together, despite hardships of suicide and drug use that are all too common in this community.

The ride began with Michael speaking to the crowd, megaphone in hand, while a community member passed a tray of smoking sage to cleanse participants. A banner spelling “HOPE” is hung on the bell tower and bikes rolled out to the street. The group snaked through the neighborhood, ringing bells and waving at the curious onlookers sitting on their porches and peeking through their windows. We circled back to the bell tower and were invited to break bread in the community center across the street. Meet Me at the Bell Tower was an experience we will forever cherish.

Bike!Bike! 2017 proved to be a great event that brought together familiar faces, colleagues, and new friends. The workshops, rides, and connections that Working Bikes were exposed to over the weekend was an invaluable experience and we cannot wait for Bike!Bike! 2018 in Los Angeles. Our very own Brian Vargas and Chicago bike ally Robert Grossman have plans for hosting B!B! in Chicago within the next few years.

Volunteer Coordinator Andrew Bermudez instructed our first After School Matters program during the summer. With the pilot program’s success Working Bikes intends to apply for the fall term. Andrew writes and shares his experience in ASM.

Working Bikes received funding by After School Matters to recruit 14 teenagers for a six-week paid apprenticeship. Our program’s objectives were to generate excitement about bicycles by learning how to salvage, repair, and navigate our city with them. Students helped unload and efficiently organize secondhand bikes. They received demonstrations on how to use tools and lubricants to restore bikes for donation to local charities. The students removed functioning equipment from damaged frames for shipment to international relief organizations. Finally, they studied urban cycling rules and applied this knowledge during group rides.

ASM participants work together to fix a bike. Photo courtesy of Andrew Bermudez

The checklist used by volunteers to repair bikes was expanded into a curriculum. Before lessons the students were divided into pairs. They observed while I demonstrated the steps required to restore a bicycle. The students had two days to practice each step before I introduced new information. While the students worked, I circulated around the shop to answer questions and help. The lessons were supplemented by handouts that displayed the names of tools and bike anatomy. The participants were expected to keep orderly work benches and to clean up after themselves.

One challenge is that the condition of the bicycles we repair varies. Some are damaged, clean, dirty, or missing parts. This made instructing difficult, because the students all encounter slightly different problems. Therefore the amount of time I spend with each student was inconsistent.

In preparation for riding as a group, each student was assigned a page from the Safe Cycling in Chicago guidebook. They delivered short presentations covering Illinois Bike Laws, types of lanes, and locking technique. The participants were provided helmets which they learned how to properly fit and adjust. On our quiet side-street, they practiced weaving through cones to simulate debris in the road and learned to signal turns with their arms. Together we road to the Eleanor Boathouse in Bridgeport, iconic murals in Pilsen, the Garfield Park Conservatory, and Northerly Island. Mikela Pinkney co-lead these trips.

Posing for a quick picture during a ride. Photo courtesy of Andrew Bermudez

A highlight was watching a student quickly change a flat tire during a group bicycle ride. Our group had visited the Garfield Park Conservatory and was riding back to Working Bikes. After turning from Lake Street onto California Avenue the students began yelling to stop. Tyreese had a flat tire. This could have been caused by glass or other sharp debris. The group pulled over on the sidewalk. Several of Tyreese’s peers offered to help. They steadied the bike and helped him remember the mechanical steps. In twenty minutes we were back on the road! It was fulfilling to watch Tyreese apply what he learned at the shop and receive support.

Working Bikes is constantly looking for more ways to connect with likeminded, neighboring organizations to further the goal of recycling bicycles and giving them to those in need. Esperanza Health Centers, with locations in South Lawndale, Little Village, and Chicago Lawn, is one such organization. On top of our established Prescription To Ride partnership, in which we provide Esperanza clients bicycles for health and overall wellness, we have established a series of events this summer. Our apprentices in the One Summer Chicago program are repairing bicycles to provide to three of Esperanza’s health groups within the community.

We kicked off the series with participants of Esperanza’s Little Village Breastfeeding Group on June 29th at the outdoor pavilion of the fairly new La Villita Park. After the adults and children of the group excitedly picked out bicycles, Working Bikes general manager, Paul Fitzgerald, discussed bike safety.  We ended the day with a group ride around the park’s soccer field.

Photo credit: Rhonda Bausley

On the morning of July 8th our apprentices were back at La Villita Park, presenting 10 bikes, locks, and helmets to participants of the “Be Me, Be Healthy” program. The program is geared toward teenage girls and assists with self esteem and relationships. The girls listened to our One Summer apprentices explain how to check their bike for safety as well as how to figure out how to choose the right bike. And once bicycles were picked out, we once again took a leisure group ride.  

Photo credit: Rhonda Bausley

We will finish the summer series with Esperanza’s Girls on the Run group on July 27th. The group focuses on self-esteem and health as the girls train for a 5k race. This certainly won’t be the last collaboration with Esperanza Health Center; stay tuned for more.