MOTORCYCLES SAVING LIVES

May’s club night meeting had a visit from an unscheduled guest in the person of Jim Ellerby, Jim is one of the many supporters of Riders for Health which is a scheme for assisting health care in Africa.

Riders for Health mobilises health workers in remote parts of Africa where health care is severely restricted by lack of transport and in many cases by lack of roads. These health care workers tackle HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, polio, maternal and infant mortality, sanitation and disease prevention.  They do this by training African health workers to ride and maintain motorcycles (usually 250cc Yamaha’s of the type designed for the Australian outback farmers) and as a result these health workers can reach many more people in remote districts.  They also train technicians to service these  machines and replace parts before breakdowns occur. As a result people in remote areas are getting the health care they desperately need and once set up the scheme becomes self-sustaining, and helps generate some local income.

At present Riders for Health are operating in  Gambia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Tanzania, and funds raised go towards sustaining this work by helping pay for spare parts and training technicians and health workers to expand the service into other parts of Africa in the future, and as a result they employ 230 people in Africa and reach 10.8 million Africans.

Jim in partnership with a biker mate John Farmer are planning in July to do a Lands End to John o’Groats bike ride paying all their own expenses so that all funds raised will go directly to the Riders for Health scheme, Jim came over to the SJB to give us a short talk and explain the aims of the scheme, so as well as the proceeds from the raffle the members dug deep into there pockets and Jim was present with £60 from the Ironmasters by chairman Phil.

So next time you are grumbling about the potholes in some of the minor roads that we often transverse on our runs think of the African health workers  travelling across areas with no roads at all on off-road  Australian Yamaha’s with a pack full of medical supplies, or even worse they have developed a light weight sidecar to attached to the bikes which can not only assist in carrying supplies but can have a stretcher attached to bring in the patients!!!  (God strewth matey! After travelling off road on a stretcher attached to a 250 Yam’ anyone deservers good medical attention)  If you would like to be a sponsor  then you can send donations to Riders for Health at  Freepost, Riders for Health.   Mentioning Jim Ellerby and John Farmers LE to JoG sponsored bike run. More information is available on their web site: www.riders.org

JIM MADE IT !

We have since received a thank you letter from 'Riders for Health' to let us know how Jim got on. Here is a copy of the letter.

DARING DAGAN AND HIS HIMALAYAN H’ADVENTURE

On 16th February 2009, section members were entertained by Dagan Hyde and his photo presentation of his endurance trip around the Himalayan mountains. 

Click the image opposite to enlarge in new window.

The trip was organised by Enduro Himalaya using Enfield Bullets, as with all classic motorcycles Dagan was pleased he packed his multi-tool which saw a fair amount of action. Dagan had joined a large group of like minded motorcyclists, some travelling from as far as Australia, experiencing the hundreds of miles along cliff roads and through some very muddy conditions.  It was a good job Dagan wasn’t scared of heights because some of the thousand foot shear drop pictures made even the section members queasy. As can be seen from the slides the views were spectacular and the winding roads through the foothills a joy to ride.  A very big thank you to Dagan for his excellent presentation.

(Click images to enlarge in new window).

Check out the section's monthly notes too