Thembi is from Malawi. She is representing the Guttmacher Institute's Protecting the Next Generation Project at the conference.

This session was presented by CAP AIDS, a Canada-based organization, which provides small grants to organizations working with communities in Africa. The presentation addressed how effective bikes are in services delivery in African communities. In my country, Malawi, transport is really a big problem and people spend more time walking then providing services. The distances that community health workers have to travel are very long. This makes their jobs ineffective in many communities. However, with the donation of 15 bicycles from CAP AIDS, the service delivery has been improved. For instance, one peer educator with a bike reaches about 40 young people in a week and 200 in a month. This really has a great impact on young people in getting information on sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. A lot of them have been transformed.

In Malawi, I heard a young man of 17 years give a personal testimony on how he has benefited from the bike. I remember him saying: "Though a peer educator, I used to engage myself in unprotected sex because places where free condoms are found are very far from where I live. But now with the bike that I have, I usually cycle, get some boxes from the health care center and distribute some to my fellow peers." He was also saying this was part of his motivation as a peer educator. Also, a lot of young people are joining youth clubs where they usually share experiences and the bike has also increased the number of fellow peers which he reaches in a month.

In my country, a lot of young people in rural areas are engaged in unprotected sex because of lack of information on sexual and reproductive health and also because places where free condoms are found are very far from where they live. This has made young people vulnerable to HIV. A lot of people in urban areas shun working in rural areas because of the distance and the poor roads. So, something needs to be done to reach all these young people with health information. I personally think this conference is a great platform for sharing personal experiences like these. But if it's not here, then where? If it's not today, then when?