Wednesday, January 30, 2008

I'd Rather Ride a Bike





Imagine, you are a medical worker, and you don't have a car. You have patients spread out all over the region that you need to reach. It will take you about 1 hour to walk 2 miles. Or, your city has just been demolished by a natural disaster. People are injured and need medical supplies. Motor vehicles are useless. It will take all day to walk across the city. Then you have to walk back for more supplies. Not a good scenario.

Now imagine that someone gives you a bicycle, equipped with a basket to carry supplies. Feel the wind on your face as you pedal 10 miles per hour. You can be across town, visit patients and be back for dinner. In addition to the bicycle, you are trained how to repair the machine that you will grow to love and rely on, so that when something needs adjusting, or a flat tire repaired, the bike isn't left leaning on the side of a building, rusting. It will be repaired, and used, and loved, and help in saving lives.


Now imagine that you can help save these lives. That is exactly what I imagine myself doing. That is why I have joined up with World Bicycle Relief.( click on the name to go to the web page). The cool thing is that each bicycle, including training, costs only $109.

Quotes:


"I am a Midwife. I look after 450 pregnant woman and then visit every house with children in the village, about 3000 people. I travel by bus and foot. Recieving a bicycle will help me tremendously. Currently I can visit about 10 houses per day. With the bicycle I can probably double that."


"In Zambia there are over 1,000,000 orphans and vulnerable children. Over 30,000 are born with HIV/AIDS. One out of five will not see their 5th birthday. Delivery of 26,000 bicycles over the next three years will make a difference. It is a time for hope, and a time for action."


Please consider donating, (these people are you neighbors after all), and saving a life.




Photos courtesy of: Leah Missbach Day


If you would like for a representative to come to your organization to speak about World Bicycle Relief, just let me know.





Have a great day.

No comments: