Pikala: Cycling for everyone

Cycling lessons for Moroccans and school children, guided tours for tourists in the old town of Marrakech, free repair workshops… Pikala is more than a cycling company, it is a tool for social development.

This article first appeared in the excellent magazine Vélo Mag, March 2022 edition.

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Dutchwoman Cantal Bakker is a firm believer in the power of bike integration. A cycling activist, she taught Syrian women to ride bikes in the Netherlands at the height of the refugee crisis in Europe. In 2015, during a trip to Marrakech, she noticed the same needs and saw the possibilities that cycling could offer the Moroccan population. She is using the enthusiasm for COP22, the climate change conference to be held in the same city in 2016, to raise the funds needed to create Pikala – whose name means bicycle in Darija, the Moroccan dialect of Arabic.

The objectives are ambitious: to encourage Moroccans to use bicycles to get around faster, to reduce urban pollution and to help children get to school more easily. The mechanical workshop will make it possible to provide training, and the guided tours to hire local people, in a society that is experiencing a high unemployment rate.

An amazing workshop

The workshop was first set up in a less touristy part of Marrakech. Then, in 2018, the municipal administration donated land to Pikala in the medina, the old part of the city surrounded by fortifications. The only problem is that it's a neighborhood dump that volunteers and motivated employees have to clean up themselves for several days. “We had to scrape 10 cm of dried waste syrup on the ground! » tells me Issam Facil, now manager of the Pikala workshop.

Issam Facil, Jonathan B. Roy, Jihane Joypaul and Mounir Khamali.

They are rolling up their sleeves (and probably putting on gloves) in order to build a nice open space that can accommodate a mechanical workshop and a few dozen bikes for rent.

Tchabet Richard, a mechanic from Cameroon, explains to me that they have to weld many of the parts themselves due to the eclecticism and age of their customers' bikes. For example, he shows me some derailleur hangers he made himself, and which he poetically calls “ear flaps”.

Tchabet Richard, originally from Cameroon, manufactures his “ear flaps” himself.

The Pikala workshop is always open to young people who want to learn the basics of mechanics. And one week a year, in association with a few bike shops, we offer free repairs to everyone to ensure that the greatest number of Marrakchis can enjoy a bike in good condition.

Youth goal

In a country where the motorized vehicle is king, where there is little lighting at night and stopping at traffic lights is at best a suggestion, it is difficult for a child to gain confidence and enjoy to ride a bicycle. This is why young people are particularly targeted by Pikala's services.

More than 170 bicycles are maintained and then loaned to secondary school students so that they can get to school. "Theoretical and practical courses on the bike will also very soon be offered to more than 1 schoolchildren in three cities," adds Issam Facil. Rather “600”, specifies his colleague Mounir Khamali, the community project manager who knows his files very well.

More and more women

Pikala's dozens of urban and mountain bikes, which mostly come from the Netherlands, are rented or used for city tours. They are also used for the courses offered to Moroccan women.

“The girls are still embarrassed to ride their bikes,” explains Jihane Joypaul, the communications manager who obtained a bachelor's degree in cinema in Paris before returning to Morocco recently. “They may feel hchouma – shame mixed with modesty. Here, this means of transport is not very encouraged. »

Pikala gives cycling lessons to girls and women. The people of the medina are now more accustomed to seeing them circulating.

The burqa-bike

A few years ago, Pikala organized a competition for students. The objective was to imagine bicycles responding to certain local problems. “Women wearing the burqa don't have the freedom of movement needed to ride a bike,” wrote one. So why not put the burqa over the bike rather than over the woman? The result was a heavy metal bike that doesn't roll easily, and which has the merit of drawing attention to this issue.

Pikala tries to change these mentalities by offering girls and women cycling lessons for eight weeks, at the rate of an hour and a half per weekend. The age of the students varies from 14 years old to… “very old”, but the average would be around 26 years old.

"The fact that locals and tourists all meet in the same place has a big impact," Jihane believes. People in the medina are now much more used to seeing cyclists, especially girls. »

The most recent project: a café

The energetic Khaoula El Haidi, in addition to having been a guide and giving cycling lessons to women, is now the manager of the new Pikala Café, where I stop. “I love going fast on my bike,” the young, independent 25-year-old tells me. I feel free and I have the impression of imposing myself more. »

As part of her studies in tourism, Khaoula looked at the benefits that Pikala brought to the community. And he was finally offered a job.

Just like the workshop, the café is a joyous tower of Babel where Moroccans and tourists from all over the world meet, who come there for the food and the musical performances. The restaurant has only been open for two months and already the sunny terrace is packed with waiters running from table to table.

Mohamed Bardi and his boss Khaoula El Haidi.

We salivate just to see the coffee dishes!

The future

Cantal Bakker is a firm believer in the power of integration of the bicycle.

“This project could have taken place anywhere,” admits the founder, Cantal Bakker, standing under the workshop sign in the colors of the Dutch flag. “So many countries are facing the same problems. We receive requests from almost all over Africa to open new branches there. »

The non-profit organization operates with profits from tourists as well as grants from Moroccan and European organizations. "Stable incomes help to guarantee the sustainability of our aid", sums up Cantal.

If the projects are not lacking to develop Pikala, the needs are certainly not lacking either. During the most difficult times of the pandemic, more than 1200 food baskets were delivered thanks to Pikala's cargo bikes. In addition, lobbying work is also being done to increase the number of cycle paths, but this issue has not yet risen to the rank of local priorities.

Be that as it may, in Marrakech, more than thirty Pikala employees and a growing number of urban bike enthusiasts now accompany Cantal Bakker in its beautiful and positive cycling vision.