Keep pedaling!

A cool activity we'll be introducing in Zambia is an Income Generating Activity using bicycles to generate power to charge cell phones.  After a week of classes taught by the Graceland SIFE students, the participants in the two communities around the schools will form a little entrepreneurial business to help keep the schools sustainable and provide a small income for some of the enterprising participants.  Thanks to Dan and Michelle Mahlik for this great idea and for helping to provide the resources to make it work.  You may think that charging cell phones is not intuitive as a good business in a poor neighborhood.  Actually, cell phones are everywhere.  In developing countries cell phones can be purchased very inexpensively.  There are no required service providers; instead you purchase 'talk time' a few pennies at a time.  If you're out of 'talk time' you can still receive calls from other phones -- you just can't call out.  BUT you have to keep the phone charged (no small feat when you have no electricity) which is where the bicycles come in.  A car-plug charger is used as the connector.  Jac obtained a variety of plugs-- shipped all the way from Hong Kong -- so we'd be able to match different phones.  So we'll have lots of people pedaling!!