It is not always easy to come up with ways to really help the poor. Of course we can do a whole heap of things that do help in varying ways and for varying lenghts of time, but how do you really change some ones life with an easy, long term solution…?
PEDI CABS – a short distance, low cost, public transport type vehicle…
Many people in Asia ride some form of Pedi Cab as a means of employment. As with many industries, the person who actually does the work gets the least pay, and it is true in this industry. Most of the people who ride the Pedi Cabs do not own them, they rent them from some one else. The rental price varies depending upon the area the Pedi Cab (Unit) is ridden. If it is ridden in a high traffic area, or a market area the rental might be as high as 100p (AUD 2.50) per 12hour day. It does not sound all that much, but when you realise that the average fair might be 10-15p per trip, you need approx’ 8 fares to pay your rental, before you begin to earn any money. Now add to that equation this – the Units can only collect passengers within their registered zone. You can take a passenger outside of your zone, but you must ride back into your zone to collect a new passenger. We knew people who worked in this industry, and they could sometimes work a 12 hour day and after they had paid their rental, they could come home with 40 or 50p. 1kilo of rice is 30p, not much too feed your family on after a whole days work…
So…we give out Pedi Cabs, to poor people already working in that industry. We don’t give them for free, we charge 10p (1/10 the going rate) per 24hr day to ride one of our Pedi Cabs. The 10p we collect daily from the rider is then used to send one of the drivers children to school for a year (we make NO profit at all), BUT the driver gets a cheaper rental rate, one of his kids in school (which he is effectively paying for), he does not have to work as many hours per day, he has the unit in his possesion, so he can ride it in the night and perhaps an older son can ride it during the day, potentially doubling the families income and as a bonus, we let him ride sundays for free…and it is working, it is increasing incomes, increasing family time and increasing how many of his children can attend school.
Must of been a God idea, not just a good idea…
