Saying and doing are often two actions that do not always go hand in hand. For Velo Cuba, this is not the case. Following “The City by Bike” International Seminar, the project visited three kindergartens in Old Havana to put into practice everything the team had learned.
After two years of planning and the postponement of the event, due to the world epidemiological situation, a series of activities were carried out with children to promote the use of bicycles from an early age. The initiative saw the collaboration of Community Patrimony and Enviroment Civil Society, the Office of the Havana City Historian, Emergency Architecture and Human Rights (EA-HR), Civil Society in Development and the Velo Cuba project.
“Working with young children has been a truly moving experience, and this is the first time that a Cuban bicycle mobility project has used balance bikes with this age group,” explains Nayvis Díaz, president and founder of the Velo Cuba S.U.R.L enterprise.
For several consecutive days, the Convento de Belén, Amiguitos del Comercio, el Complejo polideportivo de San Isidro and the Ludoteca Pinocho were spaces where more than twenty children gathered to play educational games related to the use of this means of transportation.
“The efficiency of these actions brings about the formation of a culture of use of this means of transportation. We have verified throughout these years that adults who learned to ride a bike in their childhood promote this behavior and teach it to their own children. On the other hand, we have the experience of children who have learned to use them and then encourage their parents to rent or buy one, to travel long distances as a family.
“The event provided numerous experiences and showed that it is always a good time to exchange with other activists doing the same work, not only in our own country, but all over the world. There is an endless number of exercises to educate about urban mobility, not only for children but also young people and adults, and it is to these resources that we must appeal to enhance the use of bicycles.
“Hopefully we will manage to extend these activities to other communities and even provinces. In the end, that is one of our principles, to nurture the ideas that are born in the workshop and implement them in our spaces.”
