Money was raised for WIMA World’s officially supported charity Motorcycle Outreach and these donations have now been granted to Pikilily as MoR is no longer involved in Tanzania and the money was raised for Tanzania. Funds are now in place to start a pilot project with two renovated motorcycle ambulances.
Pikilily was voted WIMA World’s official charity at our national presidents meeting in Estonia, July 2017 and we will now support Pikilily directly with our fundraising activities.
Pikilily is run by WIMA GB member Claire Elsdon who is based in Mwanza, Tanzania, Pikilily has two focuses:
The first is to train unemployed Tanzanian women to become motorcycle mechanics at the Pikilily workshop, which was funded in 2016 by WIMA as well as other supporters. These women will also be trained to ride motorcycle ambulances and to give first aid.
The second is to reduce the number of women who die in or around childbirth in rural areas throughout Tanzania. Around 24 women die per day – which has a massive impact on their unborn, newly born or other young children in the family. One reason for this is their inability to reach a hospital in time.
400 motorcycle ambulances were shipped to Tanzania over the last 4 years, but procedures to train the riders and to maintain the motorcycles were not followed by the receiving authorities. Most of these motorbikes are just rotting in the sun and Claire is determined to get them back into service. The local health authority is a keen supporter and collaborator in this project.
Claire Elsdon is herself an accomplished rider and traveller. She rode her beloved DRZ 400 solo from London to Cape Town without a single breakdown, due to her rigorous maintenance schedule. En route she renovated a fleet of derelict bikes belonging to an NGO in Malawi and combined with learning about the appalling motorcycle accident rates all over Africa, discovered her mission.
You can see the inspiring talk she gave at the 2017 PINC Conference in the Netherlands here
Pikilily is registered as a social enterprise business in Tanzania and is in the process of applying for official charity status in the UK.
For more details about Pikilily, please go to www.pikilily.com You can contact Claire direct: If you have time and skills and wish to volunteer, she will be delighted to hear from you! And all fundraising ideas will be very welcome.
You can also contact WIMA’s International President, Åsa Öhqvist: to know more about WIMA’s fundraising actvity.
If you want to read WIMA Worlds charity report for 2017 you can download it here: WIMA_Charity_Report_2017
