(CNN Philippines) — Filipinos are skillful in making useful and world-class products with local raw materials. And yet a lot them are unemployed.
One program tries to help them out.
The Bambike Project is an initiative of a Gawad Kalinga (GK) resettlement in Victoria, Tarlac that handmakes bamboo bicycles and provides people with sustainable livelihoods.
Bambike founder Bryan Benitez McClelland came up with the idea in 2007 when he was still a volunteer for Gawad Kalinga, but it wasn’t until 2010 that he officially started the business.
“I was helping Gawad Kalinga develop a greener community program and the Bambike came as a livelihood idea to generate sustainable jobs for the rural poor,” McClelland said. “I grew up in the U.S., [I’m a] Filipino-American. I've always wanted to see what I could do to contribute back here in the Philippines.”
Since Bambike got off the ground, McClelland has been living in the Philippines and continues to revolutionize the local green economy.
What keeps me going is seeing how what we're doing has a positive influence on the people and the planet. I feel like we can have a larger impact here.
Bryan Benitez McClelland, Bambike founder
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His famous bamboo bikes, which cost from P15,000 to P65,000, depending on the model, have gained worldwide recognition.
President Benigno Aquino III has even offered them as gifts to U.S. President Barack Obama and New Zealand Governor-General Sir Jeremiah Mateparae.
Changing materials
According to McClelland, bamboo dampens the vibration of the bike. So it takes a lot of wear-and-tear off the riders’ joints when bouncing around on cobblestones or riding through uneven streets.
“In some forms it's as strong as steel, light as aluminum, and is resilient to impact than carbon fiber," McClelland said. "It's quite an incredible natural material that grows just in the exact cylindrical shape that we need to build for the bike. So nature does a good job in creating the perfect tubes for us.