Training gets under way in Lesotho
21 February 2008
In January 2008 Riders launched its brand new country programme in Lesotho and the training of health workers in the safe riding and basic maintenance skills they need is now well under way.
Riders will be working with the Elton John Aids Foundation, the ministry of health in Lesotho, as well as with the development agencies Partners in Health and the Clinton Foundation AIDS Initiative.
The newly-mobilised health workers will now be able to reach even the most isolated villages and play a vital role in the fight against HIV/AIDs and other diseases like tuberculosis. For those health workers operating in the highlands of the country most are lucky if they reach half of the villages that they are meant to each month.
Mobilisation will mean that health workers will be able to deliver vital anti-retroviral drugs to communities, rather than forcing people to walk for hours to visit clinics. Home-based care for diseases such as TB will also be possible, ensuring sufferers are not forced into contact with other people susceptible to contacting the diseases.
Nthabieng Metsing, a health worker from Maseru said, 'My new motorcycle will mean that I can reach all of those villages that I could not reach before. I will now be able to reach all my patients, even those in the most rural communities’.
The first health workers began their training on the 24th January in the shadow of the Pope Podium in the capital Maseru, erected for the Pope John Paul II’s visit to the country in 1988.
Training began with health workers from the ministry of health, and they were soon followed by staff from Partners in Health, who formed the second batch of trainees.
The training was carried out by Riders’ operations director Mohale Moshoeshoe, Field Programme Coordinator Ngwarati Mashonga and the principal of Riders International Academy of Vehicle Management, Alfred Gonga.
‘It gives me a great sense of satisfaction when people come in for training scared and jittery, and at the end of the training they will be enjoying it so much we have to force them off their bike!’ says Alfred. ‘You can tell what it means to them and the difference it will make to the way they will do their work of helping the needy.’
As well as being trained how to ride their motorcycles safely, the health workers will be taught how to carry out the daily checks on their bikes to make sure that they never break down between their monthly services.
Some of the health workers, especially the women, had never even ridden a bicycle before, so there was much to teach them. However, Riders trainers are used to teaching people at all levels, even complete beginners, and soon they were all confidently riding around the training course.
Over the coming months a total of 120 health workers will be trained before returning to their communities to start their work.
To find out more about Lesotho, click here.