(SOUTHERN AFRICA) I like to ride my bike. Some of you may like to ride as well. In Canada we ride our bikes in the park. Some people ride their bike to work. Many people ride their bikes for fun or fitness or to compete with others. Here in Malawi many people also ride bikes; but people do not ride their bikes for fun here.

Some people ride their bike to work.  Many people ride their bikes for fun or fitness or to compete with others.  Here in Malawi many people also ride bikes; but people do not ride their bikes for fun here. 

They ride to get places.  They ride to transport things. The ride to bring other people to different places.  Lots of people ride to make money.  For most people in Malawi their bike is a tool.  A very useful tool. Most of the bikes here seem to be cut from the same template.  They are made in either China or India. They are usually black with no gears.  They have a steel frame and most of them are fitted with a heavy duty rack on the back used for whatever business or personal items the owner wishes to carry.  They are not pretty.  They are not light or fast; but they are very useful and very strong.  I have seen bikes carrying up to four people, a goat or pig, firewood, bananas, businessmen, coffins, other bikes or just about anything else you can imagine–and lots of things you cannot.

World Renew has discovered that there are uses for bikes here in Malawi that can even save lives, including using bikes to pull ambulance trailers.  World Renew, together with the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation, is providing bikes and bike ambulance trailers to 20 Malawian communities where we have health programs.   These practical, strong, and cheap-to-run ambulances have been saving many lives across Africa by getting people to clinics and hospitals in record time and in record numbers.  This is especially true of expectant mothers who go into labor many miles from the nearest health facility and it is usually impossible for them to walk. If any complications present themselves during the birth, either the mother or the baby can die. 

Bicycle transportation is a simple solution that does not cost very much money.  World Renew has decided to purchase bikes and trailers made locally by an organization called Sakaramenta.  They produce the Buffalo Bike which has simpler and stronger (and lighter) construction than Indian or Chinese bikes.   They cost a bit more, but the reduced maintenance and superior construction result in fewer delays in getting people the hospital. 

Look in World Renew’s next gift catalogue for a way to support more communities in Malawi with bike ambulances.

Peter Timmerman

Team Leader & Country Consultant
World Renew Southern Africa, Malawi

 

PHOTO RIGHT: Sakaramenta