Let’s Pedal! The Yotojoloin Community Celebrates World Bicycle Day

July 4, 2019. In a lively, happy day, students at the Isabel Jusayú school in Yotojoloin (Uribia) celebrated World Bicycle Day in activities officiated by the Cerrejón Foundation and involving teachers, students, and the community’s traditional authority.

Guillermina Pushaina is the mother of Luis Ángel Jusayú, a student at the Isabel Jusayú school and one of the beneficiaries of the My Bike program. She thanked the Cerrejón Foundation for its support, saying “This bicycle has eased our lives. My son uses it to go and come back from school, to help me to get water, to bring firewood, to carry groceries from the highway back home, and other things. Many thanks to the Cerrejón Foundation and to the Postobón Foundation for thinking of us. I speak for all the mothers when I say that our children get to class cleaner and on time. I hope you continue to transform the lives of more families in La Guajira.”

The community committee for the My Bike project helped the village celebrate World Bicycle Day by emphasizing the benefits of this means of transport through a play, dance, and a talk about the history of the bicycle.

This day was celebrated in the context of the My Bike project, headed by the Cerrejón Foundation and the Postobón Foundation, which has donated 200 bicycles to students at the Isabel Jusayú school to improve their mobility and save them time in hauling water.

Janneth Daza, director of the Cerrejón Foundation, stated, “It’s really important for us to celebrate World Bicycle Day with the communities. This is a simple, reliable, and ecological means of transport that also facilitates access to education, sports, and, in this particular case, to hauling water. We find it very rewarding to see the commitment of parents, teachers, and children in caring for the bicycles provided as a result of the partnership with the Postobón Foundation.”

In 2016, the community of Santa Ana (municipality of Maicao) received 120 bicycles through the My Bike project. The goal was the same — for students to use them as a means of transport to school and to gather and haul water, which is a task normally performed by women and children in the Wayuu culture.

The bicycles have bike racks and foldable baskets that can carry two 20-litre water containers.

The Cerrejón Foundation continues to monitor the project in order to meet the objectives of promoting better school performance of recipients, minimizing drop-out rates, and improving water-haulage strategies (one of La Guajira’s most pressing needs).