Rickshaws for India Brochure
I’m back in the office for first time in a month. First task was to clear the 2000+ pieces of spam email. There’s a lot more room on the server now!
In the snail mail is a brochure from People Aid, an organisation that gathers sponsorship for rickshaws to be given to needy Indian families. The rickshaws are made in a factory in India, complete with a blue shade, a cross and flower emblem, the words in English, “Jesus is Lord”, and an acknowledgement of the sponsor. Here’s a way to provide a debt free incoming-producing business that permamently supports a family.
Anyone looked into this?
7 Responses to “Rickshaws for India Brochure”
By fernando on Jan 16, 2006 | Reply
hmmm…
first, it is worth noting that pedal-rickshaws are going to be progressively phased out of cities here because they are now a traffic problem. of course, they will still have a place in smaller cities, towns and villages.
second, I would love to know more about what the money goes towards. for that kind of cash you can almost buy a new motorbike here. I seriously doubt that a good condition second hand pedal-rick would cost more than $50-75au.
By gary vardy on Dec 20, 2006 | Reply
Hi there,
We’re heading off to Bangalore on Friday and I am interested in this “Rickshaws for India”. If I come across any rickshaw owners displaying the blue shade and cross I will have a chat with them.
I would also be very interested as well to see how much a rickshaw costs and would then like to know how the AU$700 was being distributed.
By gary on Mar 6, 2007 | Reply
We are back from India and enjoyed it immensely.
We based ourselves in Bangalore and traveled south to Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. We then did a trip up north to Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
In the south all rickshaws were motorised and there was no sign of pedal power at all.
The North we came across a mix of both in Jaipur with some pedal in Agra and Delhi. Although in Delhi we did come across 100’s of pedal rickshaws on the sides of roads chained up and collecting dirt. I’m not sure if these were impounded or expired rickshaws.
I know India is a big place but we didn’t see any sponsored rickshaws and with the technology advancing in India I would think that sponsoring a pedal rickshaw is now not a long term project. Even country towns will start progressing to the auto rickshaws as India is advancing quickly.
I would focus my energies on a new project if I was from People Aid, something that is more sustainable. Also 23,000 rupees to buy a rickshaw is way over the top and I would like to know where the rest of this money is used….
By guy on Jul 15, 2007 | Reply
I have read these comments and would like to know if anyone has researched into this further after commenting on where does the money go?
By Julie Belding on Aug 10, 2007 | Reply
Hi All
If anyone can shed any light on the “Rickshaws for India” organisation (”People Aid”) I’d be grateful. They list an 0800 nuber on their ad but it has been disconnected. It’s very hard to find out any information about them, and even their website (www.peopleaid.org) does not supply the addresses of anyone in India who could be approached for a reference.
By Ray on Aug 17, 2007 | Reply
Disconection was apparantly a Telecom caused problem when the Wellington office of PeopleAid changed premises. Working fine now from NZ 0800 74 25 74. If anyone has any queries with peopleAid the Director Steve Spelmen is happy to talk. Just call him!
By Peter on Oct 9, 2007 | Reply
I am looking at sponsoring a rickshaw through PeopleAid’s program. I am, I believe, fairly discerning. After reading a couple of issues of their magazine (which is printed by the company I work for), visiting their website, receiving and viewing their DVD, I did an extensive internet search. There is very little to find and, except for a couple of queries such as on your blog, nothing negative so far as I can see. I put the queries to them in an email and received a satisfactory response which included a couple of .pdf fact sheets, one on their support for the move to ban human-pulled rickshaws and one detailing their rickshaw programme. (I will forward these to you if you like, but I need an address)