#bikedistribution

In 2010, Jesca Wambura was living with HIV and working nearby the office of TRMEGA – CAP/AIDS’s local partner outside of Arusha, Tanzania. She would often see people coming and going from the small office and would even overhear them talking about HIV/AIDS. One day in 2011, she finally decided to attend one of their support group meetings and was happy to find many people who were HIV-positive like her coming together to help each other out. As a member of the group she received some loans to help her start a vegetable garden on her small plot of land which helps to supplement the small income she earns. She uses the extra income to pay for school fees for her three children – aged 11, 10 and four.

In 2013 Jesca received one of 10 bikes which were distributed to TRMEGA members. She uses the bike to help her in her daily work such as fetching water, to travel to and from her work and to transport vegetables to the market.

After receiving so much benefit, Jesca was also determined to make a difference in the lives of other women like her. She now uses her bike to meet with other small women’s groups in the area to share what she has learned through TRMEGA about living positively with HIV and to help them to start their own savings and loans groups. She is grateful for the bike and hopes that the other women’s groups will benefit from bikes too!

MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH YOUR BIKE TOO!

Achieng Eunice has devoted her life to helping people living with HIV/AIDS, recognizing their struggles not only with the disease, but just to access health care.

In her community of Boro Boro, northern Uganda, HIV/AIDS has had a shattering effect, making widows out of wives and orphaned children out of families. For those still battling with the disease, many are too weak to cope with raising a family single-handedly, to earn a living, or pay for their children's schooling. Achieng has been working as a nurse for the Boro Boro Health Centre (a CAP/AIDS partner), trying to better the lives of her patients. But while the health centre's rural location provided key services to an area far from a town or city hospital, it was still too difficult to reach for many, especially those physically weary from HIV/AIDS. Achieng's work was challenging, since patients would often be unreachable.

The provision of a bicycle immediately increased the effectiveness of her work. As a part of the Bike Distribution program, CAP/AIDS gave Achieng a bicycle to widen her support network. Now she can deliver immunization and counseling to more patients, check up on those who have been bed-ridden by HIV/AIDS, transport people to the health centre, and test men for HIV/AIDS who would normally be too reluctant to be tested in public. She says that now 'when you gave us the bicycle, … it was even very easy for us to go for outreach.'

The power of two wheels underneath her has enabled Achieng to go just about anywhere – with her HIV immunization kit, and with her dreams. Now she can envision her health centre becoming a hospital, providing all of the needed services to truly fight HIV/AIDS.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH YOUR BIKE TOO!

Joyce uses her bike to provide for her family and to reach out to other HIV/AIDS affected members of her community…

You can put your bike to good use too on June 15th!

Joyce is quick to express her gratitude for the generosity of the Canadians who helped CPA/AODS to provide her with her bike and supported her to develop a sustainable livelihood so she can provide for the many children in her care.

She hopes you’ll save the date and plan to join the AIDS Ride for Africa on June 15th so more families can experience the benefits she has!

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More about Joyce and her amazing home filled with children:

  Joyce Oroma is a grandmother, caregiver of AIDS-orphans and is also a volunteer mobilizer of CAP/AIDS with CAP/AIDS’s local partner Needy Support Centre in Kampala Uganda. Joyce is the embodiment of giving – working hard to feed, house, clothe and educate 20 orphans while also providing counseling, care and support for people living with HIV&AIDS in her community!

As a widow, and sole provider for the household, Joyce’s life is anything but easy. Until just a few years ago, she was earning a living by acting as a ‘middleman’, buying maize on the outskirts of the city and carrying it 4km downtown to a market where she could fetch a better price. The money she earned was barely enough to feed all the children. She wanted the children to go to school but they were often chased away because she could not pay their schools fees.

Way back in 2007 Joyce received a bicycle through our Bike to CAP/AIDS program. The bicycle makes transporting her maize very easy and allowed her to make two or three trips in one day – thus tripling her income! She has also turned it into a bicycle taxi in her neighbourhood. This earns her 15,000 to 30,000 shillings (approx $6 to $12) per day.  Now she earns enough to feed her family and to pay school fees for all the children in her care. The bicycle also helps her in her mobilizing and makes transporting herself to counsel people much easier.

Recently, Joyce also joined with other caregivers in the Needy Support Centre community to diversity their livelihoods through new income generating projects. She is working with others to grind SimSim Paste which they package and sell at local markets as well as to make jewelry which they are trying to market through boutiques in tourist areas. These activities have been supported through CAP/AIDS’ This Sustainable Livelihoods for AIDS Orphans and Caregivers Project through which Joyce and the others received training in small enterprise management, support for developing their business and marketing plans as well as start-up capital.

The extra income she is now earning helps Joyce to access treatment for the children in her care who are HIV positive.

Last week I made the short journey outside Arusha to the small town of Maji ya Chai to visit with CAP/AIDS’ local partner organization, TRMEGA. After sitting in a cramped daladala (minibus) for over an hour, I was happy to arrive and make my way to the quiet oasis of an office that TRMEGA owns. Because part of TRMEGA’s main focus is on improving the health of people living with HIV/AIDS, most of their property is covered in a flourishing garden, full of nutritious foods and herbs. TRMEGA offers training in nutrition and gardening, as well as providing seeds and seedlings for members to start their own gardens. 

  CAP/AIDS has distributed 20 bikes to TRMEGA over the last 2 years, and during my visit I was able to meet with several members who have received these bikes. Listening to their stories of how they have put to use these bicycles was incredibly inspiring; all of them used these bikes not only to improve their own livelihoods, but also to benefit others in their communities through conducting education and outreach activities for other marginalized members of the community. The inventiveness and resourcefulness of these people, who are (stereo)typically portrayed as being helpless and destitute, just goes to show that people everywhere are capable of improving their lives, given the smallest bit of assistance.

  My visit at TRMEGA rounded out with a short planning session on the activities I will be assisting them with over the next 3 months to increase their organizational capacity. Everything from assisting with the creation of a new website, to project design and funding proposals – needless to say I think the remainder of my time here will be busy, busy, busy! And I couldn’t be more excited about it. Thankfully, however, not all my time will be spent working. I plan on taking a short vacation to Zanzibar next week, so am looking forward to some time on the beach!

  Until next time,

Kwaheri

Eunice Achieng has devoted her life to helping people infected with HIV/AIDS, recognizing their struggles not only with the disease, but just to access health care.

In her community of Lira, Uganda, HIV/AIDS has had a shattering effect, making widows out of wives and orphaned children out of families. For those still battling with the disease, many are too weak to cope with raising a family single-handedly, to earn a living, or pay for their children's schooling. Achieng has been working as a nurse for Diocese of Lango (a CAP/AIDS core partner), trying to better the lives of her patients. But while the health centre's rural location provided key services to an area far from a town or city hospital, it was still too difficult to reach for many, especially those physically weary from HIV/AIDS. Achieng's work was challenging, since patients would often be unreachable.

The provision of a bicycle immediately increased the effectiveness of her work. As a part of the Bike Distribution program, CAP/AIDS gave Achieng a bicycle to widen her support network. Now she can deliver immunization and counselling to more patients, check up on those who have been bed-ridden by HIV/AIDS, transport people to the health centre, and test men for HIV/AIDS who would normally be too reluctant to be tested in public. She says that now 'when you gave us the bicycle, … it was even very easy for us to go for outreach.'