Bicycle - £50
Do you remember the thrill of getting a bicycle for Christmas? Well this bike is particularly special because it can help save hundreds of lives!
It can provide a health worker with transport so that they can travel around remote villages in poor countries treating or preventing diseases and illnesses such as diarrhoea, malaria, measles and tetanus.
These illnesses account for one in ten of all deaths in the world so this gift is literally a life-saver.
The perfect gift for the cyclist in your life – and so much better than lycra shorts!
‘I learnt how to care for other people, how to give medicines and how to clean a person that is sick.’
Ivone Matavale, 37, Motaze, Mozambique.
How a bicycle is helping one woman help so many others
After her beloved husband died, Ivone became determined to help others and trained as a health-worker.
Living in remote areas, a bicycle enables health-workers to travel far to visit patients who would otherwise be unable to receive treatment.
On her bike, funded by CAFOD, Ivone can travel five or six miles with ease and so make home visits to sick people in outlying rural areas.
Ivone mostly visits people who are affected by HIV and AIDS. She uses the health training she received – also funded by CAFOD – to provide care, basic first aid and administer medication.
And when they are too ill, she helps them to attend a hospital. All around the world, simple, practical solutions like a bicycle can make a difference to a whole community’s good health.
