Low tech is sometimes just as important as high tech…
The Africa bike. Stumbled across this great idea/initiative via Bicycling magazine:
In addition, Kona unveiled the Two-For-One Kona AfricaBike sales program. For every two AfricaBikes sold worldwide, Kona will donate one AfricaBike to Bicycling Magazine’s BikeTown Africa project, or to other non-profit and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) whose missions include helping to improve the quality of life in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Kona AfricaBike caught the imagination of cyclists everywhere as they followed the design and development of the special edition bicycle last year. As with every Kona, the AfricaBike was built for a specific purpose: to assist home health care workers in Botswana with the delivery of antiretroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS patients.
Kona’s Design Group, normally employed in the design of world cup racing caliber bikes, teamed with African experts and other bicycle industry manufacturers in the research and design of the AfricaBike. The result was a simple, durable, comfortable and effective means of transportation that could handle all of the unique social and environmental challenges Africa presents. To Kona’s delight, the same design elements that make the AfricaBike an efficient means of delivering medicine in Botswana, also make it attractive to urban commuters as they search for reliable, affordable transportation alternatives.
What’s not to like? Practical, useful, green…fun(?) If I wasn’t so terrified of riding a bike on the streets of London I would definitely be thinking hard about putting one of these in the shed.
Delivering hi-(bio)tech with a good ol’ low tech bicycles. Love it. Now all we need to do is hook up a pedal-powered battery recharger and a $100 laptop &/or iPhone dock to the bike and you’ve got a mobile internet/phone kiosk. Talk about enabling and enpowering technology… (And just in case you are wondering, no I’m not kidding…maybe I can drum up some interest for this idea at TED Global - Africa: The Next Chapter.)
