Bicycles are helping to change the lives of teachers and children on the island of Mozambique

Thanks to Fatima Cassimo, teacher at the Centro Infantil da Ilha de Moçambique, dozens of children pass by every day, but they will also soon be used for cycling for the first time as part of a Portuguese cooperation project.

“I’ll learn now, because I didn’t have them. Since we have it in our service, I’ll use it,” the teacher explained, talking with Lusa, today after giving birth. 20 bicycles as part of a project funded by the Camões Institute.

This is a project for the promotion and development of preschool education in the Portuguese Cooperation Cluster on the island of Mozambique, managed by the Portuguese Non-Governmental Development Organization (NGDO) Helpo, which will now allow 46 workers from four schools on the island of Mozambique, which currently educates 279 children, to use bicycles daily at work, and also on the way home.

“It’s far. I’m often late, when I bring the bike home, I won’t be late,” the teacher joked, not hiding her excitement about learning to ride a bike at 35 years old, nine of which have worked. at this children’s center.

“I’m going to take it home to study,” he said.

In addition to 20 bicycles for adults, this delivery included the Mozambicans offering 24 children’s bicycles for the education and recreation of children in children’s centers on the island of Mozambique and Lumbo, as well as in the Jembesse and Filipe Samuel public schools. Magaya.

“They will take advantage of the opportunity to study, to do gymnastics. This will help us,” Fatima assured.

Andrea Pinho Alves, project manager of the Portuguese Cluster for Cooperation in Early Childhood Education on the island of Mozambique, sees this symbolic delivery as another step towards improving local education: “This contributes to the development of our children and quality education here in the district.”

Each of the four schools will receive six bicycles for children as “a tool to work on balance, social and relational skills in terms of children’s motor development,” he said.

Adult bicycles, shared with everyone during shutdowns, will give employees autonomy when traveling, “saving money” and helping to protect the environment. “Road safety training” was also proposed as many of the workers, the vast majority of whom were women, had never ridden or undergone maintenance on bicycles.

“Both in maintaining bikes and driving more consciously and proactively on the road. On the other hand, children’s bicycles were accompanied by training in educational activities, so that the team felt stronger and more creative in educational activities,” Andrea Pinho detailed. Alves.

A symbolism shared by the Portuguese Ambassador to Mozambique: “They mean much more than the bikes themselves.”

António Costa Moura recalled that the Portuguese Cooperation “has a long tradition of cooperation” in these projects to support early childhood, primary and pre-school education, together with non-governmental organizations such as Helpo.

“We have a comprehensive project to develop cooperation in various areas of urban rehabilitation, public hygiene, water purification, solid waste management on the island of Mozambique. And this is a good addition to this comprehensive approach that Portugal has and will continue to take,” he emphasized.

The project for the promotion and development of pre-school education in the Portuguese Cooperation Cluster on the island of Mozambique is funded by the Portuguese State with the participation of the municipality of the island of Mozambique and the Government of Mozambique as partners. The goal of the project is to support preschool education in the district of Ilha de Mozambique, creating a high-quality and inclusive educational project.

Silverio Joao Nahuaito, the administrator of the island of Mozambique, did not fail to acknowledge the “very valuable contribution” that bicycles represent: “Some teachers live a little far away from here, and this will help them in a certain sense to reduce distances. “.

And for children, he says, it’s a “unique way” to learn to ride a bike and a “phenomenal” incentive to combat school dropout: “They come to school with great desire.”

The project for the promotion and development of preschool education of the Portuguese Cooperation Cluster on the island of Mozambique began in 2012 with a small public school and was managed by Helpo three years later.