In life you sometimes come across angels. We met angels in Lesotho.
If you’ve ever been to Lesotho, you’ll have an understanding of just how rugged the landscape is. You might also be aware of the fact that some of the homesteads and villages are perched on the very top of those rugged Maluti mountains – literally in the middle of nowhere.
Of course, access to these villages is a challenge – especially when it comes to primary health care and other vital services. It’s not as if patients can just pop on down to the pharmacy, or the docs and nurses can just make house calls.
Or can they?
The solution: Rugged little farm bikes, the majority of which are Suzuki’s little DR 200’s.
Why motorcycles?:
If you need to ask, then you need to go and pay a visit to Lesotho. It is a beautiful, amazing country and most of that amazing is thanks to the rural nature of it all. There are roads, but, especially in winter or summer when it rains, they simply become impassable by vehicle.
We met Mme Mahali Hlasa and her team who have taken on the challenge head on and deliver a seriously critical service to the rural people of Lesotho. She coordinates a massive operation with teams of motorcycle mounted nurses to service the people of Lesotho. No seriously, this is a massive operation with 286 vehicles comprising 192 bikes and then various other ambulances, 4X4’s and other vehicles running to patients and clinics.
“Ensuring that vehicles run reliably, day-in, day-out is not simple, not in countries where there isn’t a network of high quality roads, fuel stations and maintenance services.”
We spent the day with some of the riders from her team. And it was genuinely a full day – 220KMs in the saddle from Maseru and back to visit a village perched in the middle of nowhere. We were joined by a squadron of riders on a Sunday who guided us along – and you can really see the passion that these guys have for the job.
Every week, samples are collected from homesteads and delivered to clinics where they are set onwards to labs for results. Then the riders return with treatments for the people. Some of the homesteads are so remote that the bikes will meet horses or donkeys at the furthest point that they can get to – and the horses continue the journey.
Rain or shine, snow or blizzards these tough little bikes and riders are out and about right through the year with a smile and professional service.
On this day, we called on an initiation school where the team is keeping an eye on the community of girls. We then headed deep into the mountains to call on a patient who was suffering with TB.
Sadly, upon arrival, we were informed that the patient had in fact passed away… That put everything into perspective for us.
Why the Suzuki? We asked.
“We have other brands in our fleet, but the DR’s are the toughest that we have found. They also have a bigger tank than the others, which means that we can use them for patients that are far away.”
Chatting to the riders they agree – service and maintenance is simple and the bikes are really good.
Training the trainers:
Gary Taylor, a trainer from the UK, was in Lesotho for four weeks to train 14 of the riders to be trainers. It’s all about sustainability. This was his first actual ride through the Mountain kingdom and he was blown away by the sheer beauty of the country.
Hats off. This is an incredible operation and it seems to be a smoothly oiled machine.
Riders for Health (Riders) is an international NGO and not-for-profit social enterprise operating across Sub-Saharan Africa.
They have been working for more than three decades to improve the capacity and efficiency of government and non-government healthcare delivery organisations across Africa by providing world class transport solutions. It is quite something to see. A great African success story.
Backed by Moto GP’s Two Wheels For Life:
Two Wheels for Life raises funds to ensure vulnerable people in Malawi, Lesotho, The Gambia and Nigeria can access life-saving vital health care, no matter how far from a health centre they live. The local-led programmes they support, working with partner organisation Riders for Health, use reliable transport systems to ensure health workers can reach rural communities. As the official charity of both the FIM and MotoGP™ Two Wheels for Life run unique events, giving motor racing fans access to exclusive experiences and unique memorabilia.
