Bicycle Austin forum

MichaelBluejay

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From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

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A Boy and a Bicycle -- what a difference a bike can make

Early this year I wrote a column from Zimbabwe that focused on five orphans who moved in together and survive alone in a hut.  The eldest, Abel, a scrawny and malnourished 17-year-old, would rise at 4 o'clock each morning and set off barefoot on a three-hour hike to high school. At nightfall, Abel would return to function as surrogate father: cajoling the younger orphans to finish their homework by firelight, comforting them when sick and spanking them when naughty.

When I asked Abel what he dreamed of, he said "a bicycle" — so that he could cut the six hours he spent walking to and from school and, thus, take better care of the younger orphans.

Wow.  Read the rest at the New York Times.