Safety Class Gives Vietnamese Boys Their First Bikes

Dang Nguyen moved his family to Washington from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, two years ago so his twin boys could have better opportunities.

He wanted the fifth-grade boys to go to school, not work. He wanted them to have the luxury of being rowdy boys.

And that’s just what they are doing as they spend afternoons taking spills and tromping around with their friends in a bike safety class.

Minnehaha was one of four Vancouver schools chosen by the Portland-based Community Cycling Center for bike safety classes.

Schools apply for the classes and are chosen based on need. Fifteen students from each school take the classes once a week for 12 weeks. At the end of the class, each student gets his or her own refurbished bike and a new helmet.

When Minnehaha’s Mary Hyde was choosing the students, she thought of Minh and Man, the only two boys their age at the school who’d never ridden a bike. At first, their dad was resistant, said Hyde, the school’s parent involvement coordinator.

Nguyen was worried that other students might tease them.

Hyde persisted, knowing that at 12 years old, it would be tough but doable.

Nguyen agreed to let the boys take the class. For the first four weeks, he, Hyde and the two boys worked on the basics of riding while the other students learned about caring for bikes and hand signals.

On the sixth week, the boys joined the rest of the class. They rode through cones, slowly, weaving back and forth searching for their balance.

A challenge is nothing new to the boys who are still working on their English.

While waiting in line, they chat and joke with friends.

The boys’ dad squatted about 20 yards away, squinting through the lens of his Nikon camera. He waved his hand and shouted the boys’ names. For the quick second they looked his way, he snapped a photo. He shot pictures of them riding, hanging with friends and he even got a photo of them with Hyde and the bike safety teacher, Jaye Marolla of Portland.

“In Vietnam, my sons didn’t have a bike,” Nguyen said. “My country is poor, so children have no bikes.”

Minh and Man said they are excited about getting to take their bikes home. For now, the bikes stay at school.

“I’m working very hard,” Minh said. “I like riding with friends.”

Man said riding his bike was easy, but the hardest part for both boys was to remember the hand signals.

Marolla said that because the classes are usually taught to older elementary and middle school children, they seldom get students who have never ridden before. She also teaches the class at Cascade and Discovery middle schools, and another instructor teaches students at Burton Elementary.

She has appreciated how the other students in the class have given the boys more space and have been respectful of their situation. That points to teamwork, a major goal of the class.

Marolla said biking can mean independence and a healthy life. Hyde said the first thing the Portland cyclist noticed was that the bike rack outside of Minnehaha was empty. “That surprised me, being so close to neighborhoods,” she said.

She hopes that is something her program can change.

Amy McFall Prince covers education. She can be reached at 360- 759-8019 or amy.prince@columbian .com.

More info.

To learn more about how to donate a bike or how to enroll in bike safety courses, visit www .community cyclingcenter .org or visit the Vancouver store at 8040 E. Mill Plain Blvd.