To some, bicycles are just a frame, some tires and a few gears, but a photo exhibit in the Plateau is showing that they can be so much more.
The display, which runs until May 18 at Photo Café, features pictures of people from around the world who received their bikes from an organization called Cyclo Nord-Sud, a Montreal-based initiative that sends the vehicles to those who need them most. So far, they’ve sent out 56,000 bikes, with another shipment of 400 being prepared to be sent to Togo in May.
“It makes a huge different, both in the time they’re saving, but also the financial savings they’re going to make,” said photographer Mikael Theimer. “They’re going to be able to spend that money on more important stuff than transporation.”
Theimer travelled to Africa and the Carribean to gather the stories of those who had gotten bikes through Cyclo Nord-Sud. What he found was that something so simple could change a life, like that of a 12-year-old boy in Haiti named Alfonse.
“He was showing me his leather shoes, nice leather shoes that he’s been wearing for the past three years, walking back and forth to school, seven miles every day,” said Theimer. “Since he got a bike, he hasn’t had any more issues with his shoes. He was so proud to just show me how nice, how new his shoes look. There were no holes in them and that meant a lot to him.”
All Cyclo Nord-Sud bikes are gotten by donation and are then tuned up before being sent abroad. General Manager Charlotte Cordier said the display has shown staff how much of an impact something as simple as a bike can make.
“You’ll have a young boy in Cuba, you’ll have a bike mechanic in Ghana, volunteers in Quebec City. There’s diversity but the common link of the bike,” she said.
