Thursday, 28 August 2014

Women's International Motorcycling Association (WIMA) elects Motorcycle Outreach as its nominated charity

 


Motorcycle Outreach (MoR) has been voted the official charity of the Women's International Motorcycle Association (WIMA) at its 2014 annual rally, held this year in Zakopane Poland.  The Presidents of the 15 nations present at the AGM have taken on the task of raising £6000 for MoR's latest project "Build A Bike".

When this sum is raised, a motorcycle will be bought for Cinterandes, an established NGO in Ecuador, headed by the renowned surgeon Dr Edgar Rodas. Cinterandes operates a fully kitted-out operating theatre in a truck which reaches out to remote villages in the Andes and lowlands of rural Ecuador.  The WIMA funded motorcycle will offer Cinterandes the cost-effective possibility of providing much needed pre- and post-operative visits by health workers, which will particularly benefit women and children who are less able to travel to find health care.  The motorcycle will be locally sourced and the money will also provide for maintenance for 3 years (using the Motorcycle Outreach pro-active maintenance approach) .  The fund will also pay for rider training and protective clothing for the health worker rider.

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WIMA has a track record of successful charity fund raising, having already raised £35,000 for the WIMA India Street Kids Project. Members were also actively involved in Motorcycle Outreach’s innovative “Precious Cargo” fund-raising project which created the world’s longest signed scroll. The scroll travelled round hospitals in the UK in 2013, collecting signatures and donations totalling over £17,000 for the charity.

Motorcycle Outreach will match fund a second motorcycle for Cinterandes and is actively sourcing other projects around the world that will benefit from one or two bikes sponsored via the “Build a Bike” initiative.

This low cost, high impact approach allows organisations such as clubs and societies, or even small groups of friends, to sponsor a motorcycle and receive feedback directly from the beneficiaries in the field.  The direct engagement provides donors with a high level of transparency on how their money is spent and the positive outcomes it delivers.

For further details on "Build a Bike" , contact Ron on ron@motorcycleoutreach.org

Saturday, 7 June 2014

Motorcycle Outreach "Precious Cargo" on display at ICM Congress, Prague

Our new partnership with the UK Midwives reached new heights this week as we attended the International Confederation of Midwives 4 day -Triennial Congress in Prague . In recognition of the success of the "Precious Cargo" project, created jointly with the UK Student Midwives,  we received a personal invitation from Frances Day Stirk , ICM President, to present the initiative to the Congress.

We sent 3 student midwife volunteers to Prague to present how the project was created and to promote the idea to other countries.

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In addition to managing our stand , where donations and signatures for the scroll were collected from over 1000 midwives from around the world , our trio of "ambassadors"  presented a 3 minute promotional video of the project during the ICM President's Symposium with student midwives.  500 attended the presentation and the Precious Cargo initiative was incredibly well received.

Click on the link to see our fantastic video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oaLoOMMVrA

The highlight of the event was the unfurling of the scroll in front of the full audience of the Congress at the closing ceremony. The ICM presenter gave a wonderful introduction to the project and the mission of  Motorcycle Outreach. He then invited our volunteers to unfurl the scroll.  Our team was joined by the President of the Royal College of Midwives and the RCM's Director of England.

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Several international Midwife Association representatives have expressed interest in running their own Precious Cargo project and these will be followed up in the coming weeks.

Canada is hosting the next Triennial Congress and the country representative was so impressed with the Precious Cargo intiative , we have been invited to attend the event in Toronto in 2017!

Our ambition to send our Precious Cargo "scroll" on a global journey has begun...and what a wonderful way to do it!

Ron Common

 

Thursday, 10 April 2014

Renewal of Health for All Motorcycle Fleet thanks to Triumph Tiger 800 Club, AUSAID and Astra

After more than a decade of service the Health for All motorcycle fleet is being renewed thanks to generous support from the Triumph Tiger 800 Club in the UK (3 vehicles), AUSAID (2 vehicles) and Astra International (3 vehicles)

Thanks to this assistance eight of the thirteen original motorcycles from 2002 have been replaced and the new motorcycles are already providing much-needed healthcare transport to Indonesian villages.

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Friday, 27 December 2013

New motorcycles arrive in East Flores

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Great news!

3 new Honda "Revo Fit" scooters have just arrived in East Flores as part of an on-going programme to replace the original fleet of Yamahas.

Two of the new bikes in this consignment have been donated by AUSAID and the third by the Tiger 800 Forum. A further two new Hondas, also funded by the Tiger 800 Forum, are in transit from Jakata.

When added to the 3 new bikes supplied earlier this year, it means that 8 out of 10 operational bikes will have been replaced by the beginning of 2014.

Replacement of the ageing fleet of Yamahas in East Flores has been a priority for the project for some time and this critical objective is now almost complete thanks to the generosity and support from PT Astra, Indonesia, the Triumph Tiger 800 Forum and AUSAID. We are incredibly grateful to have received such great support from our donors in 2013 which has now given the project a new lease of life for several years to come.

It is also worth mentioning that this is the first time that the project's fleet of bikes has been replaced since it began over 11 years ago! We believe that the longevity of the original fleet is solid proof that the Motorcycle Outreach business model of pro-active fleet maintenance works.  It is the core ingredient of the "Transport Resource Management " philosophy and, as the evidence now shows, it is a critical factor to ensure the sustainability of healthcare delivery in remote areas of developing countries over the longer term.

Tuesday, 15 October 2013

Precious Cargo Project gathers momentum

Did you know......there are approximately 100 volunteers involved in the Precious Cargo project split roughly 2/3rds student midwives, 1/3 Blood Bikers spread around the UK.

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We have a team of 6 Regional Coordinators (RCs) supporting our local volunteers and they hold regular video conferences to monitor progress and resolve issues . The scroll's tour of the UK will last for 2 months (October and November ) and will visit 32 hospitals /maternity units in England, Scotland and Wales, fly to the Isle of Lewis and back, attend 2 conferences (including the RCM annual conference in Telford) and grace one Palace during that time. The tour will conclude at the RCM HQ in London at the end of November 2013.

During its first 2 weeks, approximately £2000 has been raised or pledged and over 1700 signatures have been added to the 20 meter long scroll. (its predecessor collected 900 signatures over 5 years so we are doing well!).

Guinness World Records has created a new category for "most signatures on a scroll" based on the Precious Cargo intiative!  To add to the fun, there is even a song being recorded about the project  - its due for release during Halloween.

The UK tour is a pilot for a more ambitious plan. If the initial campaign is successful, the scroll will embark upon a global journey, starting in Europe in 2014. One target venue is the triennial conference of the International Confederation of Midwives in Prague. With 108 member countries attending the conference, there will be no better stage for the project to promote its global campaign.

In the meantime, there is plenty to do here and we need your help. Whilst the project is certainly lots of fun , its main purpose is to raise money . We are assured of a setting a new world record , but our main objective is to raise funds to help Motorcycle Outreach save lives. Hence, why we need as many donations as possible. Please help us if you can. Visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/PreciousCargo  and make a donation today.

Thank you.

Ron Common , Project Coordinator

email: ron@motorcycleoutreach.org