After the 2004
earthquake in the Indian Ocean caused a tsunami that ravaged Sri Lanka and
several other neighboring countries, F.K. Day and his wife Leah Missbach Day
wasted no time helping out in the relief efforts. They partnered with
non-profit organization World Vision and distributed 24,000 bicycles to people
in the devastated areas in Sri Lanka. The bicycles were to be used as a tool to
help speed up the country’s economic recovery by giving people who have lost
everything access to schools, health care facilities, markets, and places of
employment. It was that experience that led the couple to organize World Bicycle Relief, their own
non-profit organization.
World Bicycle
Relief’s mission is provide a means of transportation to people living in
disaster-ridden countries and in the process, allows the victims to slowly, but
surely move on with their lives. Aside from Sri Lanka, World Bicycle Relief is
also active in Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Southern
Sudan, and Zimbabwe.