Saved by ambulance bicycle

By Linly Chilupsya
Filinesi Chakhala 71, of Katambo Village in Salima would be dead if the bicycle ambulance was not sourced on time to take her to Salima District hospital.
The whole episode unfolded when on March 22, Filinesi woke up with a severe fever which was characterized by frequent vomiting sessions. Within a few hours she became weak and failed to walk. Her deteriorating condition caused fear and panic among her relatives who put several survival options on the table, including taking her to the hospital. Meanwhile, the hospital was 20 kilometers away and time was running out for Filinesi to survive.
While struggling to cope with the urgency of matter, her relatives remembered that a week earlier ADRA Malawi had donated an ambulance bicycle at the nearby village of Kawaye. Fortunately, the bicycle ambulance was secured and Filinesi was rushed to the hospital.

Up on arrival at the

Felinesi being rushed to the hospital through difficult terrains.

hospital, Filinesi was diagnosed with malaria and after treatment she was later discharged as an outpatient. However, the doctor had indicated earlier that her conditioned would be more severe and dangerous if she delayed to come to the hospital.

Filinesi’s sister Chimwemwe,  breathed a sigh of relief seeing her sister out of hospital and thanked ADRA Malawi for the timely ambulance donation “with her condition we were not sure how we would carry her to the hospital and as old and weak as she became it would be difficult to carry her on an ordinary bicycle and we thank ADRA Malawi for this precious donation” she said.
The ambulance bicycles have been donated by ADRA France to help vulnerable community members to access health services quickly especially in times of emergencies.

BICYCLE AMBULANCE SAVING LIVES IN THE RURAL AREAS

     By Claudio Sandoval

 This is an amazing and touching story narrated firsthand by Mr. Kazigonde Mapemba, member of Mulatha Village in the District of Mulanje, where he tells how a bicycle ambulance made the difference for him between life and death.

Kazigonde Mapemba

Kazigonde narrated that in a particular day he was quite alright and went about doing his normal work around the house and in his garden.  At the end of the day after returning home, he suddenly felt sick.  He felt weak and feverish and then started opening bowels. The situation deteriorated very rapidly and he became so weak.  It was then discovered that he had contracted cholera and needed to be transported to the health clinic urgently.

Deadly distance
The normal means of transporting a patient to hospital is to make a temporary stretcher using wooden poles which takes a lot of time to construct additional to the long distance from Mulatha Village to the nearest Health Center that is about 25 kilometers of bad road. 

A blessing for thousands
Blissfully for him, Mulatha Village had recently been benefited with a bicycle ambulance, donated by ADRA Malawi, as part of the Project: Bicycle Ambulances for Rural Communities in Malawi funded by the Ayuntamiento de Elche from Spain. At present this bicycle ambulance is increasing and facilitating a prompt and timely heath access to more than 5,700 people in Mulatha Village.

No time to loose
The patient narrated that when he was being transported, he really did not know what was happening as he was almost unconscious due to the weakness.  It was when he had arrived at the hospital and received some treatment and came to his senses that he realized he was in the hospital. This shows how seriously sick he had been. Due to the kind of disease it was extremely vital for him to receive a quick and appropriate treatment. 

Relief and gratitude
-“I believe I could have died that day had it not been for the presence of the bicycle ambulance which enabled my relatives to move me quickly to the nearest health facility”-, Kazigonde said.  -“The availability of the bicycle ambulance meant that we did not waste time constructing a stretcher but quickly moved to take him to the hospital”-, one of Kazigonde’s relatives also mentioned.

-“I am very grateful to ADRA for the donation of the bicycle ambulance and ask that God could bless the organization and the donors for the timely gesture”-, Kazigonde finalized.
 

ADRA donates ambulance bicycles

Written by Stanely Mpasa

As a direct response to the village transport challenges, and long distances covered to get to the health centers, ADRA Malawi has donated 12 ambulance bicycles to different communities in Chikwawa and Mulanje districts. The donations were made through the Train the Trainer Project (TOT).

from left: Ps Eliya, GVH Naluso, Stanly Mpasa and Ps Msuka during the presentation ceremony.

In Chikwawa four ambulances were donated to Malikopo and Nduna Village communities to serve a population of 2000 people. People in the two villages travel a distance of 16 kilometers to get to the nearest health center.  The bicycle presentation ceremony was colorful and highly attended by traditional leaders and community members.

In Mulanje, 4  bicycles were donated to 8 support groups at Chisitu to assist 1700 people. The other 4 ambulances went to Naluso Village community and the HIV/AIDS Ministries of the Seventh- Day Adventist Church received the donation on behalf of the community. The TOT project collaborates well with the church Department in the area. The church program reaches out to 17 SDA churches and a church community population of 69, 400.

A man lying confortably on an ambulance bicycle

Receiving the donation Health Ministries Department Director Pastor Eliya commended ADRA for supporting the needy. He said the donation would go a long way in reducing the time taken to ferry the patients to the health center.

Speaking earlier, Group Village Head Naluso thanked ADRA for the gift and pledged to put them ambulances to good use. He said the donation would reduce cases of patients dying before getting to the health centre due to poor transportation.  The Government Ministry of health was represented by Falece Kachingwe who thanked ADRA and the SDA Church for complementing government efforts through HIV/AIDS programs in Mulanje District.

Celebrating Bicycle Ambulances

By Krystle Praestiin

Golden Village in Mulanje has a population of around 3000 people; they live between 15 to 20 kilometers from the nearest District Hospital and recently suffered the loss of three community members because they were unable to get them to the hospital in time. Imagine their excitement when an ADRA vehicle carrying two newly donated Bicycle Ambulances from ADRA Portugal, came to gift them with these potentially life-saving bicycles.

Women, men and children gathered around the Bicycle Ambulances as they were being assembled, excitement and wonder on their faces. The women’s exuberant singing filled the air as they sang songs thanking ADRA Portugal for providing funds to have these two Bicycle Ambulances donated to their village. It was an uplifting experience to be a part of. Each community member, with their broad smiles and joyful dancing now had hope that unnecessary deaths could be prevented with the extra time these Bicycle Ambulances would provide.

To express their gratitude a man with very good English wrote the following letter on behalf of the Golden Village Chief and community members, to thank ADRA Portugal for their donation.

Dear friends of Portugal,
On behalf of Golden Village Citizens I wish to thank all the friends of Portugal who have sent us these two bicycles and trolleys. We were suffering seriously and dying without reaching our nearby hospitals because we were lacking trolleys. So please send our sincere greetings to all friends of Portugal ADRA.
Sincerely Yours,
Chief of Golden Village of Mulanje District

The bicycles were handed over to a Bicycle Ambulance management and maintenance committee of 10 people. On the committee was the brother of a man who had recently died from measles because he was unable to get to the hospital in time. This brother is the Vice Chairman of the group and together with his fellow committee members is committed to maintain and manage these bicycles to the best of their abilities. The committee has already set up procedures for managing the Bicycle Ambulances, deciding to charge each community member a fee of 10 kwacha a month (less than $1 US), this money will then be used to make repairs to the bicycles. Log books of when and by whom the bicycle is used will be kept to ensure that the bicycle is used appropriately and is not damaged. The treasurer and another member of the committee will be in charge of keeping the Bicycle Ambulances while they are not being used.

Thanks to the donation of ADRA Portugal, ADRA Malawi was able to provide a very valuable resource to the people of Golden Village, a resource that will help save lives. The donations of ADRA Portugal will also see the provision of eight more Bicycle Ambulances to other villages under the Women Empowerment Project2 (WEP2) which is funded by Sida, through ADRA Sweden.

Bicycle Ambulances - for a different new year

As the festive season is drawing near, there are a lot of gift sharing among relatives and friends. But for some communities that ADRA is working with, the present presented to them beats all the gifts received during the festive season. It is an all time present.

Transporting patients has always been a hustle to most communities, bearing in mind the long distance to a health centre, the scorching sun and rainfall in summer. The act of giving these communities bicycles has assured so many community members that they will have access to health services. The amazing part of this whole endeavor is that in most of the communities where the bicycle ambulances were donated, the community members did not have any means of transport for patients; there are no ambulances in these remote areas. In this regard most communities feel that this gift will not only help in transporting patients but has brought hope and assurance that they will have access to health services.

Expressing his joy one of the community members who received the bicycle ambulance on behalf of the community in Chiradzulu, Oscar Limani, said his community admired other communities who had the bicycle ambulance. However, he said that now that ADRA has given them their own bicycle ambulance, the community will be helped knowing that there are a lot of people who fail to go the hospital because of transport problems. Looking at the bicycle ambulances, Limani reiterate that ambulances are comfortable for patients and durable for the road conditions in the rural areas.

In absentia Traditional Authority Ntcheme appreciated the efforts made by ADRA and its partners. He said communities can only develop if health services are accessible to all in the communities. He said there have been a lot of incidences where people die unnecessarily because they were not able to get to the hospital or clinic in good time or sometimes not even being able to travel due to transportation challenges.

So far the fourteen bicycles will reach out to 140 villages in the Central and Southern parts of Malawi. More of the bicycles ambulances are expected and if all goes according to plan this will a life changing endeavor because most patients will have access to treatment from health centers.

The bicycle ambulances were donated by individuals and corporations through ADRA Denmark. If you want to join the pledge to provide 100 bicycle ambulances to the most vulnerable communities in Malawi, contact the ADRA office in your Country specifying that the donation is for this intended purpose, or give online in the ADRA International Website by following the link: Donate now.

Authored by Chikondi Madikiza-Madumuse, Communications and Advocacy Officer