Banjul, 22 July, 2023 / 8:55 pm (ACI Africa).
The bicycle initiative that has seen thousands of students in the West African country of Gambia have easy access to their respective schools has been a “step in the right direction”, Caritas Gambia Project Coordinator, Pedro Mendy, has said.
In a Thursday, July 20 report, the official of the development and humanitarian arm of the Catholic Bishops in Gambia who was speaking during the bicycle distribution exercise in the North Bank and West Coast regions is quoted as saying, “Supporting Gambian children to have easy access to school is a step in the right direction and it is something that the Gambian needs to cherish.”
“Since the commencement of this project, we have received 4,936 bicycles and we have supported different students, especially those that are far from their schools,” Mr. Mendy is further quoted as saying about the initiative that started in 2018 in partnership with Rotary Ireland among other partners.
The Caritas Gambia official also says that the gesture of giving bicycles to the learners is “meant to ease movement and ensure timely arrival of students at school, especially those far away from their schools.”
In the report, the representative from Gambia’s Catholic Education Secretariat, who was also speaking at the bicycle distribution event called upon beneficiaries of the initiative to take a personal responsibility of maintaining the bicycles they have received.
