Part 3 of 4: Hoima Bicycle Documentary

Part 2 of 4: Hoima Bicycle on Youtube

Hoima Bicycle: Posted on Youtube

I've posted the complete documentary, Hoima Bicycle, on Youtube.

This documentary shows the process of designing a bicycle for and with Ugandan bicycle couriers, known as Boda-boda. Filmed primarily in Uganda, it shows the realities of current day East Africa, from the chaotic streets of Kampala to the inside of gritty mud-thatched homes in rural Hoima. In Uganda many residents use cheap, clunky bicycles for their primary means of transportation. Through a unique collaboration between an American designer and Ugandan couriers, a new bicycle design was conceived and a prototype was made. The designer then traveled to Uganda to meet the couriers and to have the bike tested and critiqued. Would they like it? Or is it back to the drawing board? How can you use your talents and skills to help the poor of the world?

This is part 1 of 4.

If you would like a DVD of the complete documentary (30 minutes) it will soon be available on Amazon.com.  I'll be posting discussion questions so that it could be used in design education.  Although this project had many mistakes and some successes, I learned a great deal from the experience.

Bicycle T-shirts to Support Hoima Bicycle Project

Here's a some bike shirts and stickers that I just designed...

http://www.zazzle.com/treadwater

$2 per sale will go to the Hoima Bicycle Project in Uganda.

We're designing a bicycle along side Uganda bike couriers, and

hoping to set up a micro business frame shop in Uganda. With

the goal of bringing these young men and their families out of poverty.

Hoima Cargo bicycle being made in Jinja

Tristan Allen is working in Jinja, Uganda with the Bicycle Sponsorship Project Workshop (http://bspw.org) and has set up a small frame building shop to create a small production run of the Hoima Cargo Bicycle. Here are some pictures that he just sent. Read his blog for more details. And they could use some funding for this to work, so please consider contributing to the project.

Hoima Bicycle wins Best Documentary at NW Projections Film Fest

Somehow, my documentary, Hoima Bicycle, won Best Documentary Short at the Northwest Projections Film Festival 2009. It was up against three other very interesting and quite different docs. Sonic Healing, Hope Art, and The Best Medicine.

Thanks to:

Thanks to Wilson Large and everyone who organized the festival and gave us an opportunity to show our work. Thanks to Mark Hardin, who without his presence and camera work, the documentary wouldn't have been possible. Thanks to my mom, Shirley Morris who planned, scheduled and prepared for the trip to Uganda. Without her, the whole project wouldn't have been possible. And thanks to my wife Karen, who was my assistant editor by watching earlier versions and suggesting changes. She also tolerated me working through the summer, unpaid, editing the movie for hours and hours.

Thanks to Western Washington for supporting the project with grants. And thanks to the members of First Presbyterian church for supporting the project through funds and prayer.

What's Next?

I'm considering submitting the movie to other festivals with the intention of raising awareness of the Ugandan boda-boda and increasing support for the next stage of the project. I also realized however, that I will need to re-record all of my narration because of a low buzzing that you can hear when shown in a real theatre with a real sound system. I guess using a cheap PC microphone (that I found in the closet) connected to my laptop didn't work.

What's Next with the Bicycle Project?

Tristan Allen is working in Jinja, Uganda right now with a bicycle NGO and has found bicycle parts that are available and could be used on the next version. He has also written a grant proposal for creating a small fabrication shop for building a short-run of 15 bicycles. To make that happen, he will need to raise about $2000 to cover materials, tools, and labor. This will be done through BSPW "Bicycle Sponsorship Project & Workshop", a Non-Governmental Organisation. If you would like to help, I will be collecting contributions.

Parallel to this, we will be approaching large bicycle manufacturers about licensing the design. This would be one way to make the bicycle in large quantities and achieve the low cost target of $80 USD. I'm stilling working on the design update, and will post a drawing soon.