April 13, 2021
By: Mohamed Abu Conteh
Village Bicycle Project and Team Africa Rising have on 10th April 2021 commenced a five days Bicycle and Mechanic Training course for beginners at the Lunsar Town Hall.
According to the CEO of the Village Project Abdul Karim Kamara fondly called ‘Stylish’ the training is purely intended to train local Mechanic and bicycle owners to become professionals in repair Bicycles. It is also intended to be a form of Job empowerment for them.
He affirmed that the training will last for five days and at the end of the training the participants will be certified with level 1 certificate with training equipment to start their own Mechanic workshops at their different places.
He said the expert Holland who is in Sierra Leone to train the local bicycle mechanics, a total 25 participants are currently undergoing five days training course and some of them are from Lunsar, Makeni, Freetown, Kono, BO City, Kambia, Kabala and Lungi.
Most of these participants are excited to benefit from the training course, because most of them have their own Bicycles but do not have knowledge on how to fix them when the need arises.
According to the CEO of the Village Bicycle Project, eight of the bicycles cost them 12 thousand Euros which is equivalent to one Hundred and forty five Million eight Hundred and forty-four thousand Leones (145,844,000).
The Project is facilitated by the CEO Village Bicycle project and funded by Team Africa Rising based in the United State of America (USA).
The course is an International Cycling Union course that is targeting beginners to have the requisites knowledge to match up international standard.
One of the Participants from Lunsar, Mohamed Ben Conteh said he felt happy to benefit from the training course because he has learnt a lot, amongst other things. He spoke about learning to fix a bottom bracket which has been a serious problem for him over the years. He thanked the Village Bicycle Project and Team Africa Rising for such training.
Another participant from Freetown, Isata Janine expressed delight to have benefited from the ongoing training because as a female she has been into Bicycle mechanic for two years.
She was especially also acknowledged have learnt the technique to fix bottom brackets which has been a big problem for her over the years and thanked the Village Bicycle Projects and Team Africa Rising for such training.
The Village Bicycles Project is calling on parents bodies, like the Sierra Leone Cycling Association to come onboard and help them to develop the sport in the Country.