When her three children did not have enough to eat, Monica ATIENO decided to apply for a job through a new program that employed women to become a taxi driver with motorcycles – a profession dominated by men.
Initially, she kept her plan a secret from her husband, who himself was a taxi driver in their Ukwal city in West Kenya. When he found out, he was furious and threatened to leave. But Mrs. Atieno, who is 29, says she told him, “I will do it, because I know what I will achieve.”
Last year, after hundreds of training hours, it became a motorcycle taxi driver – “Boda -based girls” as they are called. Now one of about 1,000 women is among the estimated 2.5 million taxi drivers in the motorcycle in the Eastern African State of Kenya, according to the advocacy groups of points points, advocacy.
The path to success was full of obstacles. Many women who have signed up, like Mrs. Atieno, have never drove a motorcycle before, let alone a car. They faced the harassment of passengers and drivers. Their husbands expressed disapproval.
Women gained training in basic skills such as self -defense and mechanics. Now many say that they have started making income and independence, they have discovered new forces and, in some cases, began to support their entire families – achievements that they once considered impossible.
“When I joined the Girls point, my life has changed completely,” said Lilian Rehem, 33, one of the first taxi drivers from a motorcycle in her area. “My kids can dress nicely. I can get food every day. “
The program began when Ogola Dan, who helped to find the Matibaba Local Hospital two decades ago, noticed that women were regularly coming to the hospital in search of work – either as chefs, cleaners or receptionists.
The hospital was one of the largest employers in Siaya County, where a million inhabitants live mainly in villages and small cities connected by red soil roads that wind through flat plains and hills. Many people make money to grow corn, cassava or sweet potatoes. Second fish in Lake Victoria, Lake’s largest African. Jobs are scarce, especially for women.
At the same time, Mr. Ogola noticed a worrying pattern: when these same women became patients, they could not afford transport to the hospital for medical examinations. Many had to walk up to two hours, even when they were pregnant to reach the hospital. Some ended up working on the way.
So, with the support of the American Charity Organization, the Tiba Foundation, which also helps financing the hospital, hired the driver’s driver’s driver’s driver’s driver’s driver’s driver’s motorcycle driver. In April 2022, he recruited 10 women from nearby villages – the first group of “Girls of Point”.
“We kill poverty by creating a job for them,” he said, “and they bring people to us and make health services available to women.”
After Mrs. Rehem’s husband died, she and her four children could no longer survive the money from breeding kale on her small farm. She was forced to pray for money at the edge of the house loss. After years of fighting, she came across a surprising opportunity for Matibabu Hospital when she went there hoping to find a job as a chef.
She had never heard of women who manage the points before, calling a two -wheel taxi.
The Boda-Bodas dates from the 1960s when riders along the border between Kenya and Uganda were shouting “boundaries to the border” to attract customers, researchers claim. What began as a cycling taxi eventually turned into a motorcycle taxi – often cheap, imported bikes from India. Boda-Bodas became one of the main economic forces of Kenya.
“I didn’t know how to drive, but I could learn,” Mrs. Rehema said.
Over time and perseverance, she mastered the skills to move in the unpredictable roads of the earthen earthen roads: hitting the brakes just before it turns and tilts into the corners while holding stable. She learned how to change motor oil in inconvenient conditions.
Two years ago, she became one of the first women’s drivers in her area. Now he is in a hurry with future mothers to deliver her babies to the hospital and transports women and their babies for examinations. When he arrives at the hospital, he welcomes everything with warm smiles, kisses the baby and shake hands like a beloved local politician.
The “Boda Girl” program was a current hit, inspiring others.
Every morning, Lucy went to admire the girls’ confidence of the points that zoom in next to her house. Mrs. Odele had a break like a child, leaving her with a shovel in her right leg and makes it difficult for her to stop for a long time. It also made it difficult to find a job. She lived as a single mother with her parent, Mrs. Odale, 38, longed for independence. She signed up for the program and joined 13 more women in May 2023 as part of another cohort.
But Mrs. Odale said she was fighting at first, it was difficult to switch her leg over the bike. “I used to cry. I would see others progress, while I stayed where I was,” she said.
By refusing to give up, the program found her solution: a smaller scooter that could be easier to mount. At night, she carefully digs him into her cramped house, positioning her next to the sofa like a reliable friend.
“I know how it is, walking at long distances to the clinic,” she said. “I don’t want anyone to suffer the way I suffered.”
The program has now trained 51 women. In the early morning light, they can be seen on their colorful bicycles with bright pink seats – a mark of the status of their trainee. When they graduate, they are given purple leather seats, and each shows a hand -sewn logo for girls.
Last summer, when Violet Onyango was in work, her family couldn’t afford a ride to transport her to the hospital and Beba’s father refused to help. So she called one of the girls with a point that had already taken her to multiple examinations, who gently transported her to the hospital for free to deliver her little girl.
After that, Mrs. Onyang, a passionate football player, said about her child: “I want to attend school, educate and become a football player like me.”
Many male points-boda drivers believe women take over their jobs.
“Before the girls’ points arrived, I did well, but things changed,” said Frederic Owino, a longtime run-back driver in the county. “Ever since they came, my work decreased.”
Kevin Mubadi, president of Kenya Boda points points, who supports the involvement of women with drivers, said: “Some passengers still consider women to drive Bodas Bodas.”
He added that women also often experience “sexual harassment of male clients.”
To protect themselves, the girls are learning the self -defense point. Coaches teach them to stop the bicycle if the passenger is inappropriate, hardly claiming the rules and occupying a defensive attitude – stretched weapons, palms, ready to hit if they are threatened.
The points of the point continued to share these skills with girls in nearby schools.
The landscape is slowly changing, with more women joining the industry not only as drivers, but also as engineers and mechanics-they think about them around them.
The once skeptical husband of Mrs. Atieno, who threatened to leave when she first enrolled in the program, changed his mind after a month when he saw that she had already earned twice what he had done. With earnings from a point with a point, she bought a cow and several pigs and spread to other ventures such as soap and tailoring.
One morning in July she wore two of their children to school at the back of her purple motorcycle. Her husband jumped, so he could attend a meeting of parents and teachers. After throwing them at school, Mrs. Atieno rode to work.
