The main purpose of establishing LAMISI is to aid in the "Accessibility to free Education". The GLADIATORS CYCLING CLUB (GCC) was incorporated and granted its certificate to commence business as a non-profit company on June 27, 2019.
2. The principal business objects of the GCC
i. Raise funds to support cycling
Iii. Protect and preserve the environment through tree planting and other related a
ctivities. Support worthy causes
3. Sometime in 2020 some executive members of the GCC took steps to actualize the much-discussed agenda of a homegrown cycling tour akin to the Global Biking Initiative (GBI), a pan-European-based cycling initiative that organizes cycling centered events to raise funds for worldwide charitable givings and purposes.
4. GhanaByBike was thus registered as a pass-through company limited by guarantee to operate as a non-governmental organization(NGO) to enhance operationalize and practicalize the stated objectives of the GCC namely to advance the worthy causes of charity and also promote our culture and tourism via cycling principally within the territory of the Republic of Ghana.
5. GBB launched its maiden cycling tour in September 2020 and it entailed among others a six-day 715 km ride from Sogakope in the Volta Region to Damongo in the Northern Region of Ghana to promote charity, tourism and exhibit the beauty and cultures of the eastern corridors of Ghana.
6. The highlight of the GBB 2020 cycling tour was the presentation of 50 bicycles and 200 maths sets to the Paramount Chief of Tolon, Tolon Naa Abubakari Sulemana for onward distribution to disadvantaged and underprivileged students in the Kumbungu District of Education in the Tolon traditional area.
7. A significant takeaway from the speech made by the Tolon Naa during the ceremonious presentations at the palace of the Tolon paramountcy was that more than 400 kids were challenged in gaining access to education in the Tolon Kumbungu area alone because of the unbearably long distances they had to walk every day to and from their schools dispersly situated within the kumbungu educational district.
8. During the odyssey of the GBB six-day 715km cycling tour from sogakope to damongo which crisscrossed the Volta. Oti and the Northern regions of Ghana, participating cyclists observed in real time the untold heartbreaking hardships suffered by kids and teenagers who had to walk long distances to their schools.
9. The first designated beneficiary of the bicycles presented to the Tolon paramountcy was Rebecca a JSS student in the Tolon JSS educational district. A storied account was given of Rebecca’s 18km each way walk to school which totaled 36km a day She has to leave home at 5.30 am every day to get to school too tired to participate in the morning classes until she has taken a restful nap. She was not alone in this ordeal.
10. Resulting from the first-hand experiences of the GBB tour and the revelatory stories told by students, parents, and elders of Tolon community of the hardships and impracticability of accessibility to schools by their kids the GCC has through the GBB unanimously resolved as follows:
i. Free education is meaningless to thousands of disadvantaged and underprivileged kids and teenagers in our rural communities and countryside until and unless it is linked with student accessibility to their schools via cycling or any other means and methods. The story of Rebecca’s 36km daily walk to and from school is a microcosm of the enormous obstacles and challenges faced by thousands of underprivileged and disadvantaged students in at the primary and JSS levels in Ghana’s low-income rural farming communities in gaining accessibility to their schools without having to labour and trek long distances by foot in unbearably hot weather. iii. To launch a special initiative called the “LAST MILE TO SCHOOL PROJECT” (LAMISI) in order to bring national attention and focus on obstacles and challenges facing enjoyment of and accessibility to free education by thousands of primary and JSS students in our rural and low-income subsistence farming communities. To use LAMISI as a national and international platform to raise funds from individuals, NGOs, Members of Parliament, public and private companies, state-owned enterprises, religious organizations, and international entities and organizations for the principal purpose of equipping disadvantaged students and where needful teachers with bicycles to enable transportation access to their community schools in order to ensure the real and pragmatic delivery and enjoyment of free education by students.
