March 2012

Thanks for your prayers and support. Join us in giving thanks for all God has done on HWI’s behalf.
 
On March 3rd Dr. Harold Adolph and Dr. Duane Anderson were in town for a Soddo Christian Hospital (SCH), Ethiopia board meeting. It was the first opportunity to talk with them in person since they completed the fabrication of 15 trikes. We were able to discuss several design issues that had appeared in this phase of the project. First the trike we sent is too large for many of the disabled.  There were problems with the chains. Also, a need for additional gears and a drag brake/steering lever had been identified. 

Kevin Nikolich, our engineer, was able to show them a prototype of our compact trike suitable for children and adults up to about 5’5”.  He just finished a chain guard prototype solution and a way of mounting a gear on each side of the front wheel which allows the user to change the ease of pedaling without the complexities of adding gears and a derailleur system.

The new prototype also has a combined parking brake and steering lever, which will meet that need. All these solutions can also be applied to our present trike.   Thus by the end of 2012 we hope to have our compact trike in production and sometime in 2013 we can send a set of manufacturing fixtures for the compact trike and all that is needed for SCH to begin their trike program. They have already hired a welder for the hospital, so they are ready to roll. We are excited about what God has in store for the next step of our partnership.

Recent initiatives have included a workday with Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Wheaton on February 18th as a part of their church-wide “We Serve” outreach. Twelve members came and helped us prepare trike parts for painting, clean bikes, fix bikes, provide computer support and take some professional pictures for our new website. Another new contact is with the engineering department at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. Since 2002 they have had a student trike collaborative project with a rehabilitation work in Burkina Faso. We will seek ways to cooperate and learn from each other.  .

Pray for two upcoming events. On Saturday, March 31st we will have a bike sale at HWI’s headquarters to help fund the ministry. Then on April 14th (9AM-12PM) the 6th -8th graders of Clapham School will hold a bike collection drive. Their goal is to collect 150 bikes for us. Watch for advertising around the Wheaton community.   The event will be held at Johnsen & Taylor. They are offering a discount for http://www.johnsenandtaylor.com. Get details and learn about the discount offered by the store at http://www.hiswheels.org.

Rejoice with us. At the beginning of March we got word that a container, including two trikes that were sent to Sierra Leone over 20 months ago, finally was released from customs. We rejoice with the family of five who got their personal belongings. We are excited to have these two additional trikes in Sierra Leone. Please pray with us as to how God will use them as we continue to explore further opportunities there.

Riding forward on faith,

Alice Teisan 
Founder and Executive Director