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The Power of Two Wheels
2008-10-01
Picture Credit: BEN Namibia
Article Source: UNAIDS
“We use bicycles in Kisumu because it is the cheapest means of transport for our caregivers. We also use the bicycle as it offers a more convenient way of reaching remote places within our area”, says Dorothy Onyango, Director of WOFAK.
Before she sets out to visit her client Ms. Heluda in Kisian, Yvonne prepares a bag with a towel, multivitamin tablets, over-the-counter painkiller tablets, a packet of porridge flour, liquid detergent, hand gloves and soap. Then, she takes a bicycle taxi to Kisian village, 12 km away.
On her arrival at Ms. Heluda’s home Yvonne is met by three young children who are not in school today because their mother was too sick to get up this morning and has been too weak to cook for them, she is HIV-positive.
Yvonne Awuor is a volunteer home-based care provider in Kenya with WOFAK (Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya) an organisation founded by women to give support and reach out to other women experiencing discrimination as a result of being affected by or infected by HIV.
In Namibia, the non-governmental organisation Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN) was set up to respond to the need for affordable transport by providing bicycles and maintenance training to home-based care volunteers. “Bicycles benefit the caregivers, clients and their families,” says Michael Linke, Director, BEN Namibia.
In urban settings with good roads, bicycles can increase the range and carrying capacity of people by four or five times compared with walking. Even on un-tarred rural tracks a bicycle carries up to four times the weight, goes twice as far and travels twice as fast as a person walking.
However according to Linke a bicycle is much more than a practical mode of transport.
“Both volunteers and clients have told us that their sense of pride in the home-based care service increases when the volunteer has a bicycle to make her visits. We didn’t expect that a bicycle would also affect the clients’ perception of the services.”
In countries like Kenya and Namibia the volunteers who bring home-based care services to people living with HIV form the backbone of the response to AIDS. Bicycles are playing an important role enabling them to visit clients more often, spend longer with them, deliver more supplies including antiretroviral treatment, and reach more distant locations.
To read the article in full please visit the UNAIDS website:
http://tinyurl.com/3tgof2
