BY KATE JOHNSON Colorado Daily Staff Monday, November 20, 2006

Today 450 bicycles donated from residents in Boulder and surrounding cities will make their way to the African country of Ghana.

Over the last six months, Spokes Community Bicycle Project and Community Cycles - two Boulder non-profits - have teamed up to collect bikes of all varieties and conditions as part of their mission to bring aid and education to the people of Ghana.

"There's some pretty enormous transport difficulties in Ghana, and if you have a bicycle you've got freedom, you can travel when you want and it doesn't cost you a thing," said Dave Peckham, director of the Village Bicycle Project.

Since the majority of people in Ghana rely on subsistence farming, it is imperative they are able to commute to the farms where they work.

This can be a difficult and costly endeavor.

The farms lie outside the villages, forcing some to travel several miles or more using various forms of transportation.

Some people spend hours walking to work. Others take taxis, but because the drivers will not leave until their cab is full, it's common for passengers to wait long periods of time before departing.

"The bicycle is a really good form of intermediate transportation. You can travel four times as far on a bicycle than you can on foot," Peckham said.

Providing an effective, alternative method of transportation is just one of the many benefits the project offers, volunteers and organizers said.

Colleen Speno, the founder of Spokes, said people with access to a bike save as much as half their yearly income - an average of $360 - by not having to pay for rides.

According to Speno, this will open up the opportunity for more young people to attend school.

"It's an amazing expense for them to send a son or a daughter or a grandchild to school," Speno said.

But the project will promote learning in more ways than one.

Volunteer Wanda Peledrina Caldas explained that the bicycles are not just handed out. Part of the project is to educate people on how to fix and maintain bicycles.

"I think it's important if we want to show people alternative forms of transportation that we can also give them some strategies," Peledrina Caldas said.

Some of the bikes will be shipped without being repaired to provide recipients with adequate hands-on training.

Pelegrina Caldas said this will help stimulate the economy in Ghana by creating more bicycle repair jobs.

Speno added that in addition to improving the economy and boosting education rates, bikes also play an important role in everyday life - namely by providing people with vital access to health care.

With the help of continuing donations, volunteers said they hope to send more creates of bicycles to developing countries in the months and years ahead.

"We are so rich and they are so poor, and we should help them out," Peckham said.