When her three children were not enough to eat, Monica Atieno decided to recruit women and apply for a job through a new program that became a motorcycle taxi driver.
At first, she kept a plan from her husband, an autobaitaxy driver in Ukwara town in western Kenya. When he knew, he was furious and threatened to leave. But 29 -year -old Atieno says she told him.
Last year, after hundreds of hours of training, she became a motorcycle taxi driver, a “Bodal girl”, as called “Bodal”. According to the defended organization, Boda Boda Safety Association, she is now one of about 1,000 women in the estimated 2.5 million auto -bitak sea drivers in Kenya East African countries.
The road to success is full of obstacles. Many of the women who signed up have never driven a motorcycle, noodles, like Atieno. They are facing harassment from passengers and fellow drivers. Their husband has announced the disapproval.
Women were trained with essential skills such as self -defense and mechanism. At present, many people have begun to earn income and independence, discover new strengths, and, in some cases, have begun to support the whole family.
“When I joined Boda’s girl, my life has completely changed,” said Lillian Lillen (33), one of her first female motorcycle taxi drivers in her area. “My kids can wear clothes neatly. They can get food every day.”
In this program, when Dan Ogora, who had been helping to establish a local Matibab Hospital 20 years ago, noticed that a woman was regularly coming to the hospital in search of a job, such as chefs, cleaners, and receptions. It started.
This hospital is one of the largest employers in Shiaya County, and one million residents live in villages and small towns, and are connected on a red soil road that passes through flat players and gentle hills. 。 Many people make a living by farming corn, cassava, and sweet potatoes. Others are fishing Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa. Especially for women, work is rare.
At the same time, Ogora noticed a troublesome pattern. When these same women became patients, they couldn’t afford to buy transport to hospitals for a medical examination. Many people had to walk up to two hours to arrive at the hospital, even during pregnancy. Some have given birth on the way.
Therefore, the support of TIBA Foundation, the US charity, also supported the provision of funds to the hospital, so he hired a driving school to train a woman’s autobital driver. In April 2022, he recruited 10 women from a nearby village. This is the first cohort of “Boda Girls”.
“We kill poverty by creating employment for them,” he said.
After Lehema’s husband died, her and her four children could not survive with money by raising kale on her small farm. On the verge of losing her house, she was forced to ask for money. After many years of struggle, when she went there for finding a job as a chef, she met a surprising job at Matibab Hospital.
She had never heard of a woman driving a bodhoda because she was called a motorcycle taxi.
BODA-BODAS began in the 1960s when riders along the border between Kenya and Uganda shouted the border from the border to the border. The bicycle taxi eventually turned into a motorcycle taxi. In many cases, a bicycle imported from India. Bodabodas has become one of Kenya’s major economic forces.
“I didn’t know how to ride, but I was able to learn,” said Lehema.
With time and persistence, she learned the skills to navigate unpredictable roads in this area. The brake is applied just before the rotation and we are lying to the corner while stabilizing. She learned how to exchange engine oil under inconvenient conditions.
Two years ago, she became one of her first female drivers in her area. Now she hurriedly gives birth to a pregnant mother in a hospital and transports women and her baby to a medical examination. When she arrives at the hospital, she greets everyone with a warm smile, kisses the baby, and shakes her hand like a loved local politician.
The “BODA GIRLS” program immediately hit and stimulated others.
Every morning, Lucy Odel was amazed at the confidence that Boda girls passed home and zoomed. Odere had a polio as a child, leaving her on his right foot, making it difficult for her to stand for a long time. In addition, I made the work even more difficult. 38 -year -old Odel, who lives with her parents as a single mother, is eager to independence. She applied for the program and joined the other 13 women as part of the second cohort in May 2023.
However, Odel said she had a hard time, and felt it was difficult to shake his feet on a bicycle. “I was crying. I will see others progress while staying in where I was,” she said.
After refusing to give up, the program found a solution to her. A small scooter that she can mount more easily. At night, she puts it carefully to the cramped house and placed it next to the sofa like a trusted friend.
“I know what it is, and I know I’m walking a long distance to the clinic,” she said. “I don’t want someone to suffer from the way I suffered.”
This program is currently training 51 women. In the early morning light, they can see them on their colorful bicycles with bright pink seats -their standpoint. When you graduate, you will be given a purple leather seat, each displays the hand -sewn girl’s logo.
Last summer, when Violet Onyango was working, her family couldn’t afford to buy her to carry her to the hospital, and her baby’s father refused to help. So she called one of Boda girls who had already driven her into multiple medical examinations.
Later, Mr. Onango, an enthusiastic soccer player, said about her baby, “I want to go to school, educate, and become a soccer player like me.”
Many male border drivers believe that women are working.
“Before the Boda girl arrived, I did it well, but the situation has changed,” said Frederick Owino, a long -standing driver for Bowder Boda. “Since they came, my work has decreased.”
Kevin Mbudy, chairman of the Kenya Bodaboda Safety Association, supports the inclusion of female drivers, but says, “Some passengers still feel strange that women get on Bodaboda.” I did it.
He added that women often experienced “sexual harassment from male clients”.
Boda girls learn self -defense to protect themselves. Trainers taught them to stop the bicycle if the passengers are inappropriate, claim the rules, and take a defensive stance. The weapon is extended, stretched the palm, and kicks it if threatened.
Boda girls continue to share these skills with girls at nearby schools.
The landscape is changing slowly, and more women are participating in the industry as not only as a driver but also as engineers and mechanics, and changing their surroundings.
Ateenno’s once skeptical husband, who threatened to leave when she first registered in the program, saw him, seeing he had twice his created. I changed it. With the income of Boda girls, she expanded to other ventures, such as buying cows and some pigs, making and tailoring soaps.
One morning in July, she took two children to school behind a purple motorcycle. Her husband was riding, so he was able to attend a meeting between parents and teachers. After dropping them to school, Atieno went to work.
