Dreaming

Tendai's Dream
( from the WBR website)
In order to go to school, Tendai lives with her grandparents in Chilikwela Village, nearly 5 miles from Chiyota Basic School. She is separated from her family, with her mother and two brothers near Zambia's capital city of Lusaka, more than 12 miles away. Tendai dreams of completing primary school in order to go on to teachers college.

Each morning before school, Tendai fetches water for the household. Midday, she returns home to cook lunch for herself and her grandparents, and to fetch more water. In the afternoon, she returns to school for preparatory classes for major exams in order to advance.

"I used to walk long distances to school, and because of that, I would be very tired when I go into class which made me fall behind in my studies," she tells World Bicycle Relief. "This made me feel so depressed, like I would never achieve my dream of reaching grade 12, finishing my studies and going to college to become a teacher."

Tendai received a bicycle as part of the nearly 50,000 bikes that will be distributed by World Bicycle Relief's Bicycles for Educational Empowerment Program. Launched in June 2009 in partnership with the Zambian Ministry of Education, World Vision and several prominent NGOs, BEEP will empower students, school volunteers and administrators in the poorest districts in Zambia.

With the long distances she must travel and the lack of markets between her home and school, Tendai especially likes the fact that she can turn to the World Bicycle Relief-trained local Field Mechanic to maintain her bicycle. "He visits the school once a week and helps us with our punctures or loose parts."

On weekends, Tendai visits her mother and younger brothers. On the way, she often carries vegetables to sell at the market, helped by her bicycle. She knows this is important for her family. "With the money I will buy my clothes and shoes for my brothers," she says.

"Because of World Bicycle Relief, I know I will make it," she says. "I can build a good job."

A donation of just $134 provides a bicycle to a student like Tendai.

World Bicycle Relief

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