Vulnerable families deserve better – a chance to receive the health care they need
This Christmas, Riders want to get more motorcycles on the road in Africa, helping health workers to reach rural communities with the health care they need with our 2009 appeal. In Lesotho Riders works with the Ministry of Health and two other organisations to ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis can finally receive the treatment they need.
Riders’ programme director in Lesotho, Mahali Hlasa, was previously a health worker and was the first female health worker to be trained to ride a motorcycle by Riders in 1991. 'Before Riders trained me in motorcycle riding and maintenance, I was deeply frustrated because I couldn’t carry out my work as a health worker the way I wanted to,’ she recalls. ‘I couldn’t reach all the communities I needed to see and so was unable to help them. Once I had trained with Riders to ride and maintain a 
motorcycle, my working life changed beyond compare.’
Can you make a gift of £25 today and help Riders mobilise more health workers this Christmas?
‘If you ride a motorcycle yourself you will know that as a means of travel to out of the way destinations, it is unrivalled. And as a supporter of our work, you will know that vulnerable families deserve better – a chance to receive the health care that they need,’ says Mahali.
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Get ready for Christmas with Riders’ cards and gifts
Christmas is now just around the corner and you can help support our work in Africa by ordering your Riders for Health Christmas cards and virtual gifts through our online shop now.
There are only a limited number of packs available, so make sure you get your orders in early. After the popularity of our snowflake Christmas card, in 2008, Riders volunteer Justin Barker has designed two more cards incorporating candles and Christmas trees. Cards are on sale now at just £4 for a mixed pack of six cards. And, importantly, all the money made from these cards will go directly to support our work in Africa.
Christmas cards are not the only way that you can spread awareness of our work this festive period. Riders also have a catalogue of virtual gifts that you can send to friends and relatives this Christmas. By choosing to send a gift you can help provide a health worker with protective clothing, training, or the fuel they will need to reach their villages for a whole month.
To find out more about how you can help to get more health workers on the road this Christmas, click here.
HRH The Princess Royal opens new chapter at Riders
HRH The Princess Royal visited Riders for Health's new office on 15th October to help celebrate an exciting new phase in our development. The Princess, who is patron of Riders, officially opened our new offices, and unveiled our ambitious goals to help thousands more African communities over the next four years.
In her address to guests, the Princess took the opportunity to drive home the link between poor transportation and a lack of development in Africa. Every year, billions of dollars continue to be invested in developing new drugs, vaccines and other simple measures to save lives – but without effective systems for delivering this health care to rural communities, the money is wasted and people continue to suffer needlessly. Looking forward to the exciting but challenging times ahead, the Princess unveiled Riders for Health’s plans to bring about a lasting solution to this problem.
As well as marking the official opening of these new offices, the event also saw the culmination of Riders’ biennial ‘Management Council’. This two week conference brought together senior staff from the charity’s teams in Zimbabwe, the Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho and Nigeria, to map out the organisation’s goals and plans for the future.
Comedians on stage to support Riders
On Monday 26th October stand-up stars Ross Noble and Eddie Izzard, along with Toby Foster, Bernie Clifton, the Idiots of Ants and the Everly Pregnant Brothers, helped to raise thousands of pounds for Riders for Health.
All of the comedians volunteered their time free of charge to raise as much as possible and get more health workers on the road.
Riders have now posted a short video from the show on our YouTube channel RidersforhealthTV. The film includes an interview with Ross as well as action from the stage. Riders for Health would like to thank Ross, everyone at Sheffield City Hall, all those who helped to organise the show, all the acts who took part, and everyone who came and supported Riders for Health by watching the show. Without the continuing help of our supporters Riders would not be able to carry out our work. Millions of people across Africa rely on health workers that have been mobilised by Riders for Health. Without reliable transport, the health workers would not be able to reach many of their communities when they were needed.
If you are selling items on Ebay you can already choose to donate a proportion of the price to Riders for Health. Now Riders are putting our own items on Ebay, where all of the money raised will support our work. 
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