Sharing A Bicycle

Boys and a bicycle

In European cities like Paris, and Rome, people can rent bicycles in the downtown if they want to travel around the cities by bicycles. The rental fee can be some euros a day. These bikes are also equiped with GPS devices which can trace the bicycles if they have gone beyond the restricted area.

Providing bicycles for rental in big cities, is one of the city programs in reducing air pollution and preventing traffic jams.

When we were young, we like riding around with our own bicycles. We rode around the neighborhood, schools, and towns. Sometimes we rode further away to the beaches, and foothills. We took for granted for the bicycles we had.

But in other part of the world, even a small bike is a luxurious thing. In Manokwari, a small town of Papua island, not all family can afford to buy a bike for their children.

Children who have bicycles sometimes have to share them with their friends. A few days ago I took a picture of children with a bicycle. A child who has the bike charge 5,000 rupiahs (around 50 cents USD) an hour as rental fee on his friends.

Such amount is considered expensive by these little children whose parents are not wealthy enough to buy bike. So, if they want to rent their friend's bike, they have to work as car or motorcycle washer. For every motor cycle they wash, they can obtain between 2,000 and 5,000 rupiahs.

Next time when we ride bicycles again, we can remember that there are thousands of children around the world whose daily night dream is having or riding their own bicycles.

Manokwari town

If you are interested in taking a holiday in Manokwari town, you could enjoy swimming at the beach or go hiking in the forest to watch tropical birds of paradise and other wild animals. This was written by Charles Roring.