88Bikes Peru 2009

Huancayo, Peru

88Bikes Peru, in partnership with Andean Outreach

Our 88bikes project for 2008-2009 was another major success for 88bikes, bringing bikes to children in Huancayo, Peru, about 100 miles east of Lima. On January 2nd and 3rd, 2009, over 120 bikes were given away to kids at several orphanges in Hunacayo.

We are thrilled to report that 88bikes Peru is complete! We've distributed more than 120 bikes to happy kids at 5 orphanages. Our friends at Andean Outreach, an NGO here in Huancayo did a superb job negotiating with the bike shop, arranging transport and interfacing with the orphanages. Our friend Lauren and her friend John, who work with another NGO in Lima, made the trek over the mountain and taught the kids basic bike repair and helped them get used to riding their new bikes...

In partnership with Andean Outreach, we're supporting the needs of these heroic children whose lives have been impacted by HIV, the Shining Path guerilla movement, and the regional poverty that have destabilized peru over the past two decades. The kids range in age from as young as 4 or 5 years old to kids in their late teens.

These bikes will be used to get to and from school, to travel to and from nearby towns, and just as importantly, to give the kids a sense of freedom and enjoyment that will inspire them for the rest of their lives.

Thanks! Dan, Jared, and Nick

ABOUT THE SCHOOLS

The Andean Mountains in Peru are home to some of the most underdeveloped communities in the Western Hemisphere. Huancayo, Peru was at the center of the Shining Path guerilla movement from the early 1970's until the early 1990s, and to this day continues to be destabilized by drug trafficking, poverty, and the remnants of the guerilla movement, which persist even to 2008. As a result, many children in the region have been orphaned or abandoned.

PARTNERS

We have partnered with Andean Outreach, a well-established organization focused on capacity building and regional community outreach.

THE GOAL

120 (and more!) Bikes for kids at five orphanages in Huancayo, Peru.

THE KIDS

Heroic kids ranging in age from 4-17.

Sponsors: Peru