On Friday 9th December we sent the latest container shipment of bicycles to Felixstowe to depart on 16th December for The Bicycling Empowerment Network, Cape Town, South Africa. This takes the total number of bikes sent to Africa to over 39,000 and hopefully it won't be long until we reach the nice round number 40,000.

The Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN) South Africa was established in Cape Town in 2002. The main mission of BEN is to address poverty and mobility through the promotion of the bicycle in all its forms. BEN imports used bicycles from Europe, and distributes them to low income areas, trains recipients of the bikes in safety and maintenance, establishes Bicycle Empowerment Centre's (BEC's) and encourages cities to implement bicycle planning and infrastructure.

We loaded 352 bikes including 101 ex. Royal Mail bikes and some 757 packages/items of disassembled bikes and tools to keep their workshops stocked. Many thanks as always to all who donated the bikes that are now on their way to a new life.