Without any transport, dedicated pastors serving in rural Africa find it really hard to get to training courses and workshops. Bad roads and huge distances make accessing training difficult even when it is available.

As few church leaders in rural Africa receive proper pay or a stipend for their church work, their livelihoods depend on the crops they grow. But getting their crops to towns or trading centres where the prices are better than the village takes days of walking. This means church leaders spend significant amounts of time away from their church communities or risk losing out financially.

African villages are normally sparsely populated, made up of scattered clusters of farms. A pastoral visit to someone in the community who is unwell, for example, may take several days by foot, during which time the pastor is unable to work on their farm.

APF helps by providing grants for bicycles to church leaders in rural communities. The bicycles are purchased locally and a small contribution by the beneficiary towards the cost of the bike builds a sense of ownership.

Pastor Ernest from Burundi used to walk for five hours from his home in Nyarurama District to Kayanza Town before boarding a bus heading towards his church in Ndengane. When he was unable to afford the bus fare he walked the whole way, a journey of nine hours. When he received a bicycle from APF, he was very happy. “I will not walk anymore! I will ride from my home to the church and I will spend just three hours travelling. It will save me 6,000 Burundian Francs (£2.70) every time I no longer have to use the bus. What’s more, I will also have energy when I get there and can expect to live more.”

You can give the gift of a bike to a pastor like Ernest by clicking the link below.

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