Moses Drileyo is a young boy hailing from the Maracha District in Northern Uganda.
Like most young boys he enjoys playing outdoors. One afternoon as he was climbing a tree he
slipped and fell, landing on a large rock. Having trouble breathing and with his chest injured he
desperately needed medical attention. However, unlike most boys in countries like the US, he
could not depend upon an emergency helpline to send him an ambulance, nor could he use a car
or a bus to reach the local health clinic. Instead, Moses patiently bore the pain as his mother,
Salomi, secured him on her back and carried him 5 kilometers on the dusty, unpaved, and
unending road to the medical center.
Unfortunately Moses’s injuries could not be treated by the small and poorly equipped
health center. He needed to go to the hospital. The district’s one ambulance was unavailable and
Salomi could not afford the 65,000 UGX it would cost in fuel to hire it. Roughly equivalent to 19
USD, for most Ugandans this meager amount represents two-weeks salary. The 39 kilometers
separating her son from the help he needed seemed like an insurmountable barrier. Accessing
healthcare seemed impossible. As Salomi frantically considered carrying Moses to the hospital
help arrived in the form of a Rides for Lives vehicle. Designed to traverse Uganda’s uneven
roads, our vehicles make the ride to a health center cheap, convenient, and comfortable. 39
kilometers was no longer an obstacle!
Moses received the medical attention he needed, his breathing stabilized, and his
condition improved. However, without Rides for Lives he might never have received the
treatment he required. For those who live in the villages of Maracha and other similar areas
accessible and affordable health care is a distant dream. Patients must choose between riding in
an often unavailable and always expensive ambulance and relying on relatives to carry them on
long and rugged roads to reach a hospital. Uganda’s poor are more vulnerable to health issues
than the rich. However, they are also less equipped to fight it. With health services being both
unavailable as well as geographically and financially inaccessible, the poor are more likely to
succumb to diseases. At the same time being unwell prevents them from working, thereby
exacerbating their poverty. They are trapped in a vicious, self-fulfilling cycle that can only be
broken by addressing the causes of both poverty and ill health. Thus, what is needed is long-term
systemic change that generates jobs, brings prosperity to the people, increases investments in
healthcare, and reduces the risk of falling sick. At Rides for Lives we hope to be a part of this
change by building locally manufactured vehicles that provide a fighting chance to all those
suffering, sick, or injured by making the ride to the hospital an affordable, reliable, and stress-