| My name's Dan Pearman |
| and I'd like to talk about the work of Pedal Power, |
| a small charity based mainly in the UK. |
| I'll be giving our contact details at the end, |
| if anyone would like to find out more about how to support us. |
| But first, how the charity began. |
| I got the idea of exporting bicycles to developing countries while I was in Ecuador. |
| I went there in 1993 just after graduating from university. |
| After three years of studying, I wanted adventure. |
| I loved travelling, |
| so I decided to join a voluntary organisation |
| and was sent to Ecuador to carry out land surveys. |
| The project came to an end after five years |
| and when I returned to the UK in 1998, |
| I started planning Pedal Power. |
| Where I lived in Ecuador was a very rural area. |
| My neighbour had the only bicycle in the village, |
| whereas everyone else walked everywhere. |
| My neighbour's business was unusually successful, |
| and for years I couldn't understand why. |
| Then I realised having a bike meant he could get where he wanted to go without much trouble. |
| Other local carpenters could only accept jobs in a 3 kilometre radius, |
| so no matter how skilled they were, they could never do as many jobs as my neighbour. |
| At Pedal Power, we collect second-hand bikes in the UK |
| and send them to some of the poorest regions in the world. |
| When we distribute bikes overseas, we don't give them away for free. |
| We'd like to, but long term that doesn't really help the local economy. |
| The demand for bikes is enormous, which makes them very expensive locally. |
| So we sell them for 5% of the normal price. |
| But in order to continue operating, |
| we need to have a constant supply of bikes which we send out every six months. |
| One example of a town that's received bicycles from Pedal Power is Rivas. |
| It was the first place I sent a full container of bicycles to. |
| Most people there now own a bicycle. |
| The local economy has developed so much, |
| you wouldn't recognise it as the same place. |
| In fact, there are more bikes than on the streets of Amsterdam, if you've ever been there. |
| But Pedal Power still needs your help. |
| You may have read about some of our recent problems in the British media. |
| In August 2000, we simply ran out of money. |
| We had containers of bikes ready to send, |
| but no money to pay the bills. |
| It was a terrible situation. |
| We managed to ensure the bikes went out on time, |
| but the other problems carried on for several months. |
| Fortunately, in October 2001, |
| we won an Enterprise Award which helped us enormously. |
| We invested 15 of the 75,000 pound prize money to help secure our future. |
| Winning the award helped raise our profile, |
| and the money enabled us to pay all our shipping costs, |
| which represent our greatest expense. |
| Pedal Power changes lives - |
| when someone gets a bicycle from us, they see a 14% increase in their income. |
| We're currently looking to invest in computers |
| so that our office staff can do an even better job. |
| Because of our work, people in a number of countries now have a better standard of living - |
| so far we've provided 46,000 people with bikes. |
| But we'd like to send more, at least 50,000 by the end of the year. |
| Now there are many ways in which you can support the work of Pedal Power, |
| not just by taking a bike to a collection in your area. |
| I should also like to say if you do have a bike to donate, |
| it doesn't matter what condition it's in. |
| If we can't repair it, we'll strip it down for spare parts. |
| Of course, to do that we always need tools, which are expensive to buy, |
| so we welcome any that you can give. |
| Also, you could help by contacting the voluntary staff at our offices, |
| they'll be able to suggest activities you could organise to bring in funds for us. |
| People do all kinds of things - including, of course, sponsored bike rides. |
| Also, we're always interested to hear of other places that would benefit from receiving a consignment of bikes, |
| and welcome suggestions from people who've been to developing regions on their travels. |
| We hope that by talking on radio programmes like this, |
| we will be able to raise public awareness, |
| which will lead to government organisations also giving us regular financial support, |
| something that we really need. |
| If you'd like some more information about where to donate an old bicycle |
| or offer help in other ways, please contact... |