On the morning of June 10, Kona Bike’s Michelle Gault spoke with CBC radiohost Rick Cluff on the Early Edition about the Kona BikeTown Africa program andAfricaBike. The short segment highlights the history behind the program, how the Kona AfricaBikes assist home healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa and how you can help the program through numerous donation options.

LISTEN HERE.

In Delft, Capetown, the MaAfrika Tikkun healthcare workers can be seen cruising the streets between shacks and houses, dressing wounds and caring for the ill. The South African government pays home-based carers such as the MaAfrika to visit eight patients a day. Unfortunately, two years ago, the carers were going about their work by foot and could only visit around five people a day.

Last year, 108 MaAfrika Healthcare workers received Kona AfricaBikes which have since enabled them to do their work a little better. The carers now see 8-12 people a day, spend more time with the patients and respond to emergencies more efficiently. Also, according to Mobility Magazine, cycling is four times faster than walking. It takes as much effort to walk at 4kan hour as it does to ride 16k an hour. So, in a day of 16k of travel, a bicycle saves about three hours or more.

One of the recipients, Esmerelda Piers says, “When someone thanks me for a job well done, I know why I am doing this. And the bicycle helps me do it better.”