Mending bikes, rebuilding strength

For Sabelo Shavhani KaMageza, keeping his hands busy while volunteering with Red Cross is more than just a way to give back – it’s also become an important part of his own recovery journey after a stroke.

Sabelo is part of the Red Cross team in Invercargill that supports former refugees as they settle into their new homes in Aotearoa New Zealand. One of the things the Invercargill team does is source donated and secondhand bicycles to help former refugees get around. Sabelo is one of the volunteers who services and repairs these bicycles before they are gifted to newly arrived families. 

It was Sabelo’s occupational therapist who first suggested he should get involved. She knew about the bike programme and recognised the potential — working with tools and fixing bikes would keep Sabelo’s hands active and aid his physical recovery.

Sabelo was new to fixing bicycles, but he has always been very practical and used to working with his hands. As his recovery progressed, he quickly found himself picking up new skills.

Sabelo has now worked on dozens of bicycles, making sure the ones that go to arriving families are in good working condition, and carefully salvaging usable spare parts from ones that are beyond repair.

Bicycles help people be part of the community

Sabelo also appreciates the difference that his volunteering makes in the lives of others – and he knows from personal experience how hard starting over in a new country can be.

Twenty-one years ago he moved to Southland from South Africa, and remembers finding it very different from everything he had been used to. “You really miss home,” he says.

For our former refugee clients, a bicycle can be the key to navigating the city independently and with confidence. Invercargill has limited public transportation options, and it can be a long road to getting New Zealand drivers licenses and the resources together to buy a car.

A bicycle allows former refugees to get moving and involved with things almost immediately – be it work, school or English classes, or community activities like sport or visiting friends.