Bicycle Santa

Hemat Chabra is the real hero of hundred of village children around Mumbai. Their 'Bicycle Santa' has made life and education easier for them by providing bicycles to these children,who had to walk to their schools each day. A few of them had to walk for almost two hours daily. Chhabra started this bicycle project with his wife Sangeeta and Simona Terron,a journalist friend. He drafted an e-mail requesting people to donate thier old bicycle to village kids whom going to school was the most important thing but too tough a task. The response was overwhelming, but a lot was needed to be done before giving away these unused and rusted bikes of the city children.

They were to be collected, repaired, painted and then donated to the village children. Besides,the children most in need of bicycle had to be identified. Children were short-listed on the basis of the distance from school, class performance and attendence records. When the project finally took off,several village kids benefited from their more privileged counterparts settled in the cities.

The bicycle project has grown quickly and is also taking root in Delhi and Pune.

If you wish to help'The Bicycle Project', e-mail at donate@the bicycleproject.in