A local group shortens travel time for people in West Africa by providing them with simple donated items: bicycles.

The Village Bicycle Project, a nonprofit corporation that delivers refurbished bicycles to those in need of transportation in Ghana and Sierra Leone, sprung from a small group of people in Moscow and Seattle.

In 1998, the group decided to realize the vision of David Peckham, who now serves as the project’s executive director.

“When I started out I was thinking that I would send one container and help 80 farmers,” Peckham said. “Since then we have sent over 80,000 bicycles.”

Peckham said he recognized a need for a simple means of transportation during his two years with the Peace Corps in Gabon. He said he was surprised that so few people there had bicycles.

“Bicycles are four times as fast as walking, so it will give you more mobility and more time to be productive,” he said. “Time spent in transportation is not time spent productively.”

The group sent its first shipping container full of bicycles to Ghana in 2000. Their mission, Peckham said, is to provide “affordable transportation for Africa with an emphasis on women.”

“I’ve been really concerned with my privilege of being an American,” he said. “I feel obligated, duty-bound, to use my privilege to help other people to improve their lives.”

VBP volunteer Mike O’Neal, who met Peckham after their time with the Peace Corps, drives loads of bikes and bike parts to Seattle, where they are shipped to West Africa.

“Think about how we get 500 bikes plus parts into an ocean container,” O’Neal said. “It’s really incredible.”

During his 12 years with VBP, the group has never run out of bikes to send, he said.

“In the U.S. we have a lot of used things, and most of us are always looking for nicer things, which is not a bad thing in itself,” he said. “This program is great because people can take that bicycle they want to upgrade and improve someone’s life.”

The group accepts used bikes to tune up or salvage for parts and sends them to locations in Ghana and Sierra Leone, where it hosts free one-day workshops to teach locals how to identify minor problems with their bicycles.

Those who participate in the workshops receive their bikes at a 70 percent discount. Peckham said it’s important that locals pay for the bikes in order to appreciate what they have worked for.

What’s more, he said, selling the bicycles keeps VBP from disrupting local markets.

David Vollmer, a VBP volunteer and board member, said the locals’ reactions to receiving their bikes makes the project worthwhile.

“We are connecting local with global,” Peckham said. “Taking your usable bicycle out of the way-stream, giving them a new life and making a difference for people halfway around the world.”

On the ground in Ghana is VBP country director Jason Finch, who manages bicycle distribution and community interaction. Finch’s role encompasses all that VBP does inside the country.

Finch, who could not be reached for comment, will speak at 6 p.m. on July 25 at the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute in Moscow. He will show pictures from Ghana and tell stories about those VBP has helped.

Additionally a party will take place at 5 p.m. on July 24 at Stookey’s Feed & Garden in Moscow, where volunteers will strip bikes of their usable parts and prepare them for shipping to Africa.

Refreshments will be provided at both events.

Tiffanie Braun, an assistant director of community partnerships at WSU’s Center for Civic Engagement, said, “It benefits everyone to become more familiar with simple things that can be incredibly life-changing.”