Maya Pedal Presentation
MIT Team Reports Back From Maya Pedal
Wednesday, Feb 8th, 7-9:30 pm
in the basement of
Central Congregational Church
85 Seaverns Ave., Jamaica Plain
Come hear Jessica Vechakul, Alexander Yip, Gwyndalf Jones, and Radu Raduta report back from a student-lead MIT collaboration with the Maya Pedal organization in Guatemala. Maya Pedal receives shipments of donated bikes from Bikes Not Bombs, and we were excited to connect them with these engineers from MIT to start off this project. The MITers worked with Mayan technician Carlos Marroquin, the original inventor of the pedal-powered "Bicimaquinas," to improve the materials selection and manufacturing process. They'll show digital slides, present their work, answer questions, and invite you to pedal a bicimaquina in person! Ride a Guatemalan-produced grain grinder "bici-molino" which both shells corn and grinds corn or other grains. Take a spin on the the pedal-powered washing machine "bici-lavadora" prototype. We also expect to have a Jamaica Plain-produced bici-blender in attendance and making smoothies for you - this was built by Aaron and Andrew St. Jean after seeing the Maya Pedal presentation at BNB last year. Chris Yoder and other local farmers will be in attendance to consider how pedal-powered machines can be used on their small-scale organic farms. Our contacts in Zambia, Ghana, and other parts of Africa are interested in trying pedal-powered machines in these locations. The pedal-power idea is spreading, and we're excited to help facilitate the sharing of this empowering technology! For more info on Maya Pedal, see www.mayapedal.org.
- Suggested donation for the event is $5 to $15 or any amount accepted!
- Come early for free Equal Exchange coffee and a bake sale of homemade goodies from BNB volunteers.
- Volunteers needed to help with setup and cleanup. Also, we might want a few more volunteer bakers for the bake sale.
- The event is open to the public. Please publicize widely, and forward to any interested folks!
DIRECTIONS
By T: From the Green Street T station, exit through the leftmost door, which puts you on the sidewalk of Green St, with the street on your right. Immediately you cross a very small street called Woolsey Square. Continue on Green St, and take your next left onto Elm St at a traffic light. The church is one block uphill, at the intersection of Elm Street and Seaverns Ave.
By Bike: Take the Southwest Corridor bike path through Jamaica Plain, to the Green St. T stop. Turn right onto Green Street. Take your second left onto Elm Street, at a light, and your next intersection is with Seaverns Ave; you'll see the church straight ahead. Alternately, you can turn onto Seaverns off of Centre Street and ride downhill to the church.
By Car from Bikes Not Bombs: With Bikes Not Bombs on your righthand side, continue down Amory St. to Green St. Turn right on Green. Take your second left onto Elm Street. At the next intersection you cross Seaverns, you'll see the church on your right, and you can park in the church parking lot on your left on Elm Street. (In the event that the parking lot fills up, you can also find unrestricted parking on Amory Street and Brookside Ave. Brookside runs parallel to Amory, on the opposite side of Amory from the church.)