Dream Bikes: Giving Girls the Chance to Get to School Safely and On Time

In developing countries, the journey a girl takes to school is usually on foot. It can be long and exhausting…and it may also be dangerous. Girls have to navigate any potential hazards on the way, including the threat posed by wild animals. They can arrive at school exhausted, after a long, arduous journey, and that is only the start of their long school day. The toll this takes on them, and the difficulty in getting to school regularly and on time, can disrupt their learning or, tragically, see them drop out of school entirely. We want to do something about that.

Girls with Dream Bikes, Siraro, Ethiopia

A bicycle can help empower girls, giving them a means to get to school safely and regularly, and playing an important role in stabilizing their future learning.

ChildFund Ireland’s Dream Bike Campaign aims to provide bikes to vulnerable girls in five countries: Ethiopia, India, Mozambique, Sri Lanka and Uganda.

ChildFund Ethiopia Country Director Chege Ngugi and ChildFund Ireland CEO Michael Kiely presenting “Dream Bikes” to school girls near Ropi, Ethiopia, in April 2016

ChildFund Ireland has partnered with the Camogie Association to raise awareness and funds to support the Dream Bikes project. Camogie is an Irish team sport played by girls and young women; it is similar to the game of “hurling” played by men.

WATCH Ethiopian girls learn the basics of the game with camogie stars Aoife Murray and Mags D’Arcy, what we believe to be the first time the game was played on African soil!

You can help a girl stay in school. Support the Dream Bike project by buying a bicycle today.