Baby Steps

 Hello everyone! Sorry I forgot to write yesterday! I feel so bad. My uncle was at my house so I didn't have time. He's still here, but today I have no homework...yay! Anyways, I'm here to talk about The Rickshaw Girl book. A generous doner from DE decided to contribute $10 to buy the book. I know it's not a lot, but everything won't come easy.  Honestly at the beginning of the Rickshaw Project I thought that we wouldn't really progress. Although we haven't progressed drastically, we have progressed a fair amount and I feel that even with small steps we will eventually reach our goal. Plus, before any baby starts running they have to walk, right? Please continue to spread the word and if you'd like to donate or buy a book please contact any of the members of the Rickshaw Project.

How Rickshaws can impact people's lives

Rickshaw can really impact people's lives. People in Bangladesh drive rickshaws for a living. They get money buy driving a rickshaw. But some drivers don't own the rickshaws they drive, they rent them out. By renting the rickshaws they spend most of their money they earn on the rickshaws and then they don't have that much to spend on their families. So, it is really important for drivers to have their own rickshaws. The really good part about helping this important cause is that sponsoring one rickshaw is only $150. Help these drivers that don't have their own rickshaws get one.

Why I joined the 101 Rickshaw Project

Throughout the course of the past few years I have taken part in many humanitarian project.  However the 101 Rickshaw project stands out in two main ways.  Firstly giving a family a Rickshaw doesn't just provide a family with food, clothing, or shelter for a specific amount of time.  It empowers a family to provide for themselves.  In addition to this its only 150 dollars.  150 dollars can provide for a family and make their life sooo much easier.  There are many significant problems in the world today and I can`t do much about some of them. I joined the the 101 Rickshaw project because it enables myself and others to make a lasting positive impact on the world around us.


-Furkan

Experiment to Try

Hi everyone,
So on this fine Monday I am here to talk about an experiment with rickshaws. Well to be honest, it doesn't have a rickshaw involved, but you'll understand what the experiment is as I go on. And all the credit goes out to my mom who actually thought of the idea. People (including myself) don't quite understand what struggles rickshaw drivers go through. With this experiment you can start to relate and sympathize. You will need a bike, a friend or two, and preferably hot weather. Imagine it being the hottest day of the summer, the sun scorching your back and your legs tired from constant peddling. Get on your bike and just drive around for a bit. After that imagine seeing a possible costumer (your friend in your case) and wave them over. Try to drive your friend around in the hot sun and not break a sweat! Think of having two people at your back. Doing this helps you feel for the rickshaw drivers. They do this for a living and it isn't fair to do so much work, just to have most of it be taken from you. That's why we need to ensure that rickshaw drivers get to keep all their money. By donating to the 101 Rickshaw Project YOU and all your friends and family will make a huge difference. Then 101 rickshaw drivers won't have to give up so much valuable energy.

Hello everyone,

The 101 rickshaw project is to help people own there own rickshaw. If you did not know barely anyone has a rickshaw of their own. They rent their rickshaw from somebody. Then they do all the hard work to carry people around and take them to places for few amounts of money. Then by the end of the day you might think they earned a least a few dollars (or what ever their currency is), but no they have to pay the rent which takes a lot of the money they earned to the owner, for all we know could have been sleeping all day. Most drivers are very poor, like they barely pay there own self's and  their family. They wake up early in the morning and come late in the evening. When are they going to spend time with there family? Your dad\mom are home during the weekend instead of at work. Your family makes good money, taken the fact that you are reading this on a computer. They can't afford a computer. They can't even get a nice, comfortable house. So please donate generously for the family of the rickshaw drivers. And if you need more facts read the book Rickshaw Girl which has first-hand account of a family of a Rickshaw driver.

Why This Project is Worth It

Hey everyone,
I just joined 101 Rickshaws this week, and so I am going to write about why. I went to Bangladesh this summer, and I saw many people riding their Rickshaws. Looking at them, I always felt sympathetic. First of all, most Rickshaw drivers do not own their Rickshaws, but rent them due to an inability to afford one. These people have to wake up early in the morning and stay up very late into the night, just so they can give people rides and earn desperately needed money. Many of the Rickshaw drivers are frail, and driving the Rickshaw everywhere during the long, hot days is a terrible burden and very exhaustive. And after the long hours of driving around a rickshaw for meager pay, they have to spend most of their money paying the person they rented for the Rickshaw from. So at the end of the day, with all their work, they earn barely enough to support their families, and maybe not even that. If we donated a free Rickshaw to a driver, he would be able to keep all his profit, and the extra money would mean the world to the drivers. These people need the money, and one way we can help them is by completing this drive successfully.
Thank you,
Aunindya Jyoti

A worthy cause

I'm a new member of the 101 Rickshaw Project, and I was shocked to hear about the rickshaw situation. In Bangladesh, many families rent rickshaws to provide rides to the public as their main source of income. Often, they need to give 75% or more of their profit to their boss, or whoever they are renting the rickshaw from, and only keeping 25% for themselves and their family. Everyday they strive to raise a reasonable sum of money, only to fork over the majority of their sales to their boss.

No one should have to live like that, giving away most of the money that they make. However, with your support and donations, we can turn around the lives of these hard-working civilians and provide them with their very own rickshaw! $150 is all it takes to provide a rickshaw to a family, so please open your heart and spare some money for this cause.

Building a mini rickshaw

Make your own rickshaw and share your pictures!!!

   A few days ago I started making a mini rickshaw.  I am making it because I thought it would be interesting to build one.  

First I looked all around the house for something that looks like wheels.  I found some duck tape that was finished and I decided to make the wheels out of them.  After that I found two more wheels . Then I got some paper and covered the duck tape/wheel with it.  I traced the duck tape on some paper and drew lines and taped it to the duck tape.  To make it look more prettier I colored it with some markers.  

Then to connected the wheels together with straws and taped them to each side.  I also used straws to make the handle where you can hold it.  Then I made the seat for the driver with cardboard and connected it with the handle.  

Now I'm trying to make the seat for the passengers.  Sr.Barbara gave me an idea and I am trying to do that.  If you have any other ideas on how I can make the seat, please comment on this post! 

Rickshaws are a Big Part of Families

      Rickshaws are a big part of families. Especially in Bangladesh. When drivers rent rickshaws they are giving up there money on their family to spend on the rickshaw. We are asking for your help to fix this problem. Drivers need to be able to own a rickshaw for themselves. By owning a rickshaw drivers don't have to spend that much money on their rickshaw. The money that the use on their rickshaw can be used on their families, food, clothes, and other things. So please help this important cause by donating. Every penny counts!!!

The Books Arrived!!!!

I'm so excited to start selling these books
 during our next event!!

Alhamdullilah, the books, "The Rickshaw Girl" have arrived yesterday!! We now have 120 books to sell! Thanks to Ms. Perkins, the "Rickshaw Girl" author, we were able to have a great discount for the books. Now I can't wait to start selling them. We also have 3 new members added to our project from NC, Furkan, Aunindya, and Aurindom. If we all work hard, we can raise a lot more money!

The Rickshaw Girl Update

            (SORRY FOR THE WEIRD WHITE BACKGROUND, IT WON'T GO AWAY D;) 

    Asalamwalikum everyone! So we recently have acquired 36 rickshaws, which helps 36 different Bangladeshi families! This blog post is about the book, Rickshaw Girl. Meryem and Huda Kose from NC told us earlier that they had received this book as a present. They contacted the author and it looks like Mitali Perkins has offered to give us the books at a discount and we will be selling them for the Rickshaw Project. 

             I  found a summary of what the book is about and it seems to target exactly why we are trying to raise awareness for the rickshaw drivers in Bangladesh. The book is about a ten year old named Naima from Bangladesh who is struggling to get money for her poor family. She tries to raise money with her paintings, but it's not use. Naima wants to dress up as a boy and start to drive her father's rickshaw. When she goes to execute her plan something goes wrong, and I won't say anymore in case you would like to purchase the book!

        The entire rickshaw team has decided to buy the books and we are planning to sell them. (If any of the other states are please planning on buying the books, please contact me at @sabzzz1315@gmail.com and Huda's email.) 

The Difference : Renting a Rickshaw vs. Owning A Rickshaw

The Difference :

Renting a Rickshaw vs.

Owning A Rickshaw

Raiyana Zainab Alam

In Bangladesh, there already aren’t many normal-paying jobs. People there have to work extremely hard to just earn a few taka. There is a big difference in renting a rickshaw and working for someone, than owning your own rickshaw. First of all, renting a rickshaw and having a boss probably would make you feel like you are a servant or a slave (unless you enjoy it). Having a boss, you will probably have to reach a certain amount of money everyday, which some days it can be easy, but some days it can be extremely hard. On hot days, many people might want to escape the heat and quickly get home, but on colder cooler days, I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t as many people wanting to ride on a rickshaw, unless they want to ride it for fun!

Owning your own rickshaw would make feel like you have so many more possibilities! And you actually will have more! Owning your own rickshaw will make you realize, you don’t have a goal to reach, except support your family! It will also help you gain a lot more money than before. Before you had to pay the old grouchy boss 75% of your earnings. And you come home with a measly 25% of that. No! Now, you get to skip the extra ride to your boss’s house, and ride home with 100% of your earnings! 100% profit is included!

So, that is what we are trying to accomplish, the second option! We are trying to provide 101 lucky rickshaw drivers their very own rickshaws to help them in economic growth. Lucky for us, we have already collected enough for 36 rickshaws!

Keep up the good work, guys!!!

Why Rickshaw Drivers should have their own Rickshaw

     My name is Adeeba Allimulla and I live in Newark, Delaware. I am 11 years old. I am new to the ZF Rickshaw project. I believe rickshaw drivers should have their own rickshaw instead of renting a rickshaw. When drivers rent the rickshaws they have to keep spending money to use the rickshaws. But when they have their own they will spend less money on rickshaws and will get to spend more money on their family and their needs. So please help this important cause. DONATE!!!!!

$600

Only $50 to finish the next rickshaw!!

Alhamdullilah, a family friend donated enough money for 4 rickshaws! Inshallah we will be able to reach our goal with more generous donors. We currently have $100 dollars for our 36th rickshaw! We only need $50 more to make one more family in Bangladesh have his own rickshaw. Come on and donate! 

We Raised $80

            We have raised $80 towards the next rickshaw alhamdulilah. Please keep donating for the rickshaw drivers in Bangladesh. Also keep spreading the word.