How do you bring new levels of freedom to people who have been locked up in cages for years or tortured? One Minnesotan woman has found an answer through fixing up bicycles (and won an award for it).
Cynthia McArthur has been fixing up bikes for fourteen years for survivors of torture who've settled around Minnesota, despite having to deal with chronic fatigue syndrome. Chronic fatigue left her unable to work so she decided to make the most of it and use her time to fix up donated bicycles for clients of the Center for Victims of Torture in St. Paul.
One man who'd been kept jailed for 12 years in his country for political reasons received a bicycle that Cynthia had worked on. The bike made a world of difference in the amount of freedom he felt living in America and he expressed it this way: "When I ride a bike, I can ride north or south, east or west for as long as I want, and when I get tired I can lay in the grass and look at the sky."
You can read more at MPR News: Repairing bikes for torture survivors wins woman McKnight award
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