Kenya - Country Profile
Fact File
- Kenya
- Area: 224,081 sq miles (580,367 sq. km)
- Capital: Nairobi
- Population: 36,553,000 (2005)
- Life expectancy: 52 (m), 55 (w)
- Child mortality (under 5): 121 per 1000
Kenya lies in East Africa, and is bordered by Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and the Indian Ocean. Kenya has a climate ranging from tropical to temperate largely depending on the altitude.
Riders in Kenya
- Number of staff: 3
- Number of vehicles managed: 75
- Programme Director: Rose Ayuma Moon (Part time Coordinator)
In Kenya Riders is using its newly-developed Agency Community Transport (ACT) model as it works with other, smaller locally based community groups to help make sure they have reliable transport to carry out their work.
We have expanded particularly into Western Kenya, where we have trained two volunteers from our partner organisation, Vumilia, to train other health workers in motorcycle riding and preventive maintenance.
Vumilia is based 450km from Nairobi in Western Kenya. The organisation run two distinct projects, an orphanage and a voluntary counselling and testing project. The orphanage cares mainly for girls that have been orphaned by AIDS. They also do outreach work into the community and thanks to Riders they will be able to reach more people and cover the other three divisions in their district.
The HIV Voluntary Testing and Counselling project also provides outreach work for the local community. After training their members are encouraged to reach out to rural villages and create awareness and understanding of HIV/AIDS as well as to provide more counselling to people that can’t attend the centre.
Riders are helping to increase the capacity of these programmes and the motorcycles will ease their transport problems. Currently the outreach workers have to rely on minibuses and dangerous bicycle carriers. This is expensive and often dangerous as the terrain can be treacherous. Furthermore, due to the heavy rain in the area, the roads are often slippery. However the motorcycles managed by Riders will be able to work there without problems and by training the staff it means they will be able to reach all the communities, no matter how bad the terrain, regularly and safely.
In the South East of the country Riders works with the US organisation, AID Village Clinics, which works to provide health care to the Maasai communities in the Mbirikani region. The clinic operates 22 bikes as well as a fixed centre and a mobile clinic. Riders helps them manage these bikes, and helps train their health workers to ride them safely and look after their bikes so they never break down.
Riders has developed partnerships with seven new community-based organisations, whose work focuses on issues including HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and support, alcoholism, human rights, orphan and vulnerable children care.
To date Riders has distributed 57 motorcycles to CBOs in Kenya, and one for a Riders outreach technician. These motorcycles have been donated by Virgin Atlantic, Barclays Capital, CB Richard Ellis and the Rotary Club of York Vikings.
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