Repairs and rehomes bicycles for new arrivals
Tomasz Nowak is a bicycle mechanic from Wrocław who has lived in Cork since 2016. He is one of the longer-settled members of the DGS community — but his contribution to newer arrivals is direct and practical.
In 2022 he began collecting donated bicycles from a Gumtree ad he posted asking for "unwanted bikes in any condition." He repairs them in the shared courtyard of his apartment block and donates them to new arrivals who need transport but cannot afford public transport costs on Direct Provision allowances or minimum-wage margins.
To date, Tomasz has repaired and donated over 80 bicycles. Each comes with a lock, a basic repair kit, and a printed map of safe cycling routes in Cork city. He has trained twelve people in basic bicycle maintenance so they can keep their bikes roadworthy.
He has declined to formalise the operation. He has declined offers of funding. He says the paperwork would take longer than fixing the bikes.
He is currently training a Congolese teenager who arrived in Cork six months ago and who, Tomasz says, has better hands for mechanics than he does.