She confidently approached First Bike Ride’s friends and politely asked if she could have the bigger mountain bike instead of a BMX.
First Bike Ride went to Angeles, Pampanga last February 7 to deliver the donated bicycles to the youths of the Aeta indigenous community of Sitio Target Sapang Bato.
This little girl’s name is Donamae Carpio.
Donamae’s height is probably not more than 4 feet, so our team was quite surprised when she requested for a bigger bike because she’s really dainty. We’re supposed to give her a small BMX. When we asked if she’s sure about her choice, she nodded.
“Kaya ko po,” she said.
This little girl was certain that she can ride a bigger bike, and perhaps anticipated that she’ll get taller in the future so having the mountain bike is the more practical choice.
After the kids tested their respective bikes, Donamae was unstoppable. She kept on pedaling like she was the happiest girl the world. There was a fire in this kid, everyone was looking at her with awe.
Bicycles give opportunities and we can see their potential when the youths of this Aeta community were having their first bike ride with their own bicycles.
“Maraming salamat po sa mga nag-donate ng mga bike dito po sa Sitio Target. Marami po kayong napasayang mga bata,” village leader Raffy Pan told us.
First Bike Ride is really thankful for everyone who donated and helped materialize this bicycle donation drive. A simple story that we just posted has turned into an initiative that gave these young kids the chance to have their own bikes.
A total of 20 bicycles were given (five of those were bought). The total money raised was 35,452 pesos and we spent 30,150. The remaining balance will be kept for the maintenance of these donated bikes and for future donation drives.
In line with this, First Bike Ride is currently planning for our next bicycle donation drive. We’ll be using the remaining money and we will be opening another batch of donations soon. We’ve already received pledges of bicycles and financial help and we’re really motivated to continue this project.
