Lack of adequate access to education and healthcare are two of the key markers of poverty. The lack of health clinics, hospitals and schools mean that many suffer and die needlessly from easily preventable diseases. Many children never have the chance to receive and education.
If a country cannot educate or medicate its people, it doesn’t have much chance of putting an end to poverty. Whilst it is important for countries to receive aid for the building of these facilities, there is another short-term solution. By buying the charity gift of a bicycle you can help nurses and doctors go to the aid of those who need them most. A bicycle can also make the difference between a child attending school or not.
Ivone Matavale, from Motaze, Mozambique recently received the charity gift of a bicycle from CAFOD. After her husband died she courageously decided to train as a health worker with CAFOD so she could help others. She said, “I learnt how to care for other people, how to give medicines and how to clean a person that is sick.”
The bicycle charity gift has enabled her to visit people in remote areas where help is not otherwise available. Now it is easy for her to travel five or six miles to administer basic first aid, or to educate about basic health issues. She can also more easily arrange for sick people to visit hospital if needs be.
Click here to buy this charity gift from CAFOD.
One of the other valuable uses of this bicycle charity gift is to enable HIV/AIDS education. This is one of Ivone’s many responsibilities. Christian Aid’s charity gift scheme, Present Aid, also run a bicycle charity gift. Volunteers for the Likulezi project in Malawi spend much of their time doing workshop HIV training in isolated villages. Without a bicycle their work would be impossible.
Click here to buy this charity gift from Present Aid
In the hot African sun, a round trip of five or ten miles can sap all a child’s energy. It also takes quite a long time to make the trip meaning that they cannot support their parents with household chores. For this reason many parents cannot afford to send their children to school. The charity gift a bicycle really makes the prospect of school a lot more manageable and appealing.
Click here to buy it from Oxfam.
Charity gifts are a great way to celebrate a friend or loved one's birthday or anniversary. Show them you really care (in more ways that one), without giving unwanted clutter.
It is very quick and easy to buy a charity gift. All you do is visit the web site, pick a charity gift that suits your needs, and then choose a card with a personal message to send to your loved one on whose behalf you are buying the charity gift.
If the bicycle charity gift isn’t for you, there really is something for everyone. Click on any of the links below to browse all the available charity gifts.
World Vision – Must Have Gifts
Diaspora*
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