Schoolgirls in Tanzania receive bikes from town over 6,000 miles away

A group of schoolgirls in Tanzania have been given bicycles paid for by a British town over 6,000 miles away.

The bikes will help the girls get to and from school - which for some of them is a distance of almost 26km each way. 

The Kenilworth-Uyogo Friendship Link group is behind the scheme which was launched in November of last year by the Mayor of Kenilworth, in Warwickshire, Cllr Richard Dickson.

The Leamington Spa Courier, reports that in the three months since, the residents of the British market town raised £4,000 to pay for 66 bikes for girls in the Tanzanian village of Uyogo. 

Previously, the long distances the secondary school pupils had to travel meant those in the furthest villages away were struggling to attend. 

The secondary school the girls attend has a wide catchment area and staff and parents were fearful that females walking to school from their homes were at risk of being attacked.

When the pupils finish their education they will hand their bike back to the school, to be re-allocated to another girl.

Kenilworth has had a friendship link with Uyogo for more than 40 years and community leaders in the Tanzanian village asked for help to provide bicycles for girls so they could cycle safely to and from school, in groups.