5,000 Bikes and Rising
2008 is shaping up to be an exciting year for BEN Namibia. Since we began in May 2005, we have distributed more than 5,000 bicycles, 80 bicycle ambulances and 9 community-based bicycle workshops. We have partnered with 51 community-based organisations, mainly focused on home-based care services for people living with HIV/AIDS and orphans and vulnerable children, as well as the dissemination of information on HIV prevention.

Team BEN Namibia
A new racing team with 5 of Namibia's most promising young riders has hit the road. Apart from winning races and developing the sport in Namibia, the team is promoting HIV/AIDS awareness and encouraging engagement in all sports as a way of avoiding risky lifestyles through promotional activities and presentations.

Recently, Team BEN Namibia partnered with the Ministry of Health and New Start Centres to encourage residents of various communities to get tested with the chance of winning a bicycle. The initiative has seen a dramatic spike in the amount of people getting tested, in particular young men.

9 Bicycle Empowerment Centres Open
With four new bicycle workshops, or Bicycle Empowerment Centres (BECs), already opened during 2008, BEN Namibia is on track to open its projected total of 15 BECs in 2008. Through our partnership with Bicycles for Humanity, we aim to deliver new bicycle workshops into Namibian towns and villages to be run by community based organisations, delivering bicycles, creating jobs and providing maintenance services where they're most needed. Second hand bicycles are collected by Bicycles for Humanity chapters and partners in Canada, Australia, the US and UK and delivered to our Namibian partners in the containers that they are shipped in, which become the storage and workshop space. In many cases, members of Bicycles for Humanity chapters come to Namibia to visit their partner communities.

Bicycle Ambulances
Our successful bicycle ambulance project continues, with constant improvements to the design based on our monitoring and evaluation. With the national HIV/AIDS infection rate remaining around 20 percent, and maternal mortality rates doubling in Namibia in recent years, the need for locally managed medical transport is more pressing than ever. This is also borne out by our soon to be released report on the impact of transport on treatment access for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Advocacy
BEN Namibia recently published groundbreaking research into the link between transportation and access to health services, particularly for people living with HIV/AIDS. As the first Namibian initiative examining the crucial role of transport on health service access, BEN Namibia partnered several other Namibian NGOs to identify a range of issues.

Thanks to our Supporters
Finally, to all of the organisations and individuals who support us, we are incredibly grateful, and look forward to continuing our work together.