Ride for A Woman is a local charity located in the Buhoma region; one of the four (04) designated mountain gorilla trekking locations of the great Bwindi Impenetrable forest National Park in Uganda.
The Ride for A Woman charity in the Buhoma region was established in 2009 by a Ugandan couple Evelyn Habasa and her husband Denis Rubalema to help address the plight of the African woman in the community of Buhoma. The organization started out as a bike rental business that rented out mountain bikes to tourists that visited the Buhoma region for Mountain gorilla trekking but wanted to explore the surrounding communities on a mountain bike. The proceeds from the bike rentals were directed to help finance their long-term plans of purchasing sewing machines and also financing the skills training of the local women. Ride for a woman continues to teach locals valuable skills beyond just bike repair, craft production, and in-house hospitality training for the local tourism industry. Ride for A woman currently boost of having skilled/trained up to 300 women from 11 villages in the buhoma community.
From history, research has shown that when women have opportunities for more education and greater control over family finances, this results in smaller family sizes and increased health and well-being for the entire household. This directly benefits the conservation of the mountain gorillas because smaller, healthier, more prosperous families have less need to encroach on the forest. Also, when women create businesses that serve the booming Ugandan tourism industry, their families are more likely to want to protect the gorillas because they know they are benefiting from their presence.
The sales of the beautiful African fabric products created by the local women are the main-stream income source for Ride 4 A Woman. The organization also operates a micro-finance for startup loans to finance the sprouting local entrepreneurial ideas. Over 100 women are currently engaged in the program across more than 10 different types of business initiatives, ranging from second-hand clothes stores to restaurants, tailor-made dresses, and money transfer businesses.
Ride 4 A Woman is, without doubt, a lead charity helping empower the local women of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the neighboring communities at large.
