Bikes for Africa
Used bicycles collected here, refurbished by hand, shipped to school children in Sub-Saharan Africa. A 5,000-bike project, six years in.
Bikes for Africa — sometimes called School Bikes Africa — is one of Rotary District 1160’s longest-running international service projects. Used adult mountain bikes are collected across Ireland, refurbished by inmates at Loughan House Open Centre, shipped in container loads to The Gambia, and given to school children who otherwise walk hours each way to reach a classroom. More than 5,000 bikes have made that journey so far.
Why bikes
In much of rural Sub-Saharan Africa, the distance between home and school is measured in miles, not minutes. Children walk — sometimes for two or three hours each way — often along open roads and through heat. They arrive at school tired before the day begins, and they leave in time to do the walk home before dark. Many simply stop attending.
A bicycle changes the maths entirely. A walk that took two and a half hours becomes a thirty-minute ride. A child can stay later, study after class, take on a part-time job, run errands for the family, and still get home safely. Older siblings can carry younger ones to school instead of leaving them behind. Attendance rises. Outcomes follow.
From a shed in Ireland to a classroom in The Gambia
The journey of each bike is straightforward in shape but unusual in detail:
- A bike is donated. Owners drop unwanted adult mountain bikes at one of seventeen collection points across the island — mostly local-authority civic amenity centres in counties including Cork, Kerry, Donegal, and a number of others. Drop-off is free.
- It’s brought to Loughan House. Volunteers move collected bikes to the workshop at Loughan House Open Centre in Cavan, where a partnership with the Irish Prison Service sees inmates refurbish bikes as part of a structured workshop programme.
- It’s restored to roadworthy condition. Brakes, tyres, chains, bearings, and frames are checked, repaired, and where necessary replaced. Each finished bike is roadworthy and safe.
- It ships out. Bikes are loaded into containers and shipped to The Gambia, where partners on the ground match each bike to a school-age child between roughly seven and seventeen who otherwise faces a long walk to school.
What kind of bike works
The roads where these bikes end up are rough — dirt tracks, gravel, broken tarmac, often loaded with a school bag and sometimes a passenger. The programme is specific about what’s useful:
- Yes: sturdy adult or older-teenager mountain bikes, hybrids, and similar utility bicycles. Wheel diameter of at least 24 inches. Any condition — as long as the frame is sound, the rest can be fixed.
- Not suitable: children’s bikes under 24 inches, racing bikes with narrow tyres, BMX bikes, and folding bikes. They don’t survive the road conditions or carry the load.
The Loughan House partnership
The quiet engine of the project is a workshop in Cavan that most people will never see. Loughan House is an open centre operated by the Irish Prison Service, and for the last several years its inmates have spent structured workshop hours refurbishing bikes destined for Africa.
The value runs both ways. Inmates gain a tangible skill, practical experience working with their hands, and the unambiguous satisfaction of knowing the work matters. The project gains a steady, careful supply of properly refurbished bikes that wouldn’t otherwise be possible at this scale. The partnership has become a model for how prison rehabilitation programmes can intersect with international service work, and it’s the reason the throughput of bikes can be measured in thousands rather than hundreds.
How to take part
For individuals
Have an old adult mountain bike in the shed? Take it to your nearest civic amenity centre or recycling facility and ask about the Rotary Bikes for Africa programme. There are seventeen drop-off points across the island.
For Rotary clubs
Clubs can host a community bike-collection event — often run alongside a local cycling club, school, or sports facility. Talk to the district coordinator about logistics, publicity, and how collected bikes get to Loughan House.
For donors and sponsors
Container shipping and on-the-ground distribution are paid for by Rotary clubs and external sponsors. A financial contribution — from a club or a business — helps move the next consignment.
Contact the project coordinators
Jason Dempsey
jason.j.dempsey@aib.ie
+353 86 024 2344
John Trimble
johntrimble642@gmail.com
+44 7710 800 417
For the live list of drop-off points
The current list of seventeen collection sites — with addresses and opening hours — is maintained on the District 1160 page at rotary-ribi.org. We’ll keep this page in sync as the network expands.