The cyclists, employees of Lothian & Borders Police plus their friends and family, are raising money for Aid for Ekwendi Hospital, Malawi and the Nyumbani Orphanage, Kenya. One of the cyclists will be carrying a GPS enabled device which will provide real time information about their position. ESRI (UK)’s mapping solution will the plot this position on the online map, allowing supporters and sponsors to monitor the team’s progress, providing both an overview of the route as well as the latest position.

Nyumbani Orphanage (www.nyumbani.org)

Founded in 1992, Nyumbani Children's Home is an active response to the rising number of HIV infected children born in Africa every day. At Nyumbani, 'home' in Swahili, children are cared for until a definite assessment of their HIV status can be made. Children who are eventually found not to have the virus are adopted or find other homes. Children who are found to be HIV+ are given the best nutritional, medical, in particular, anti-retroviral therapy, psychological, academic, spiritual care available and live at Nyumbani until they become self-reliant.

 Nyumbani is home to approximately 100 children ranging in age from newborn to twenty-three years old.

 Ekwendeni Hospital (www.ekwendeni.com)

Ekwendeni Hospital is situated in the Northern Region of Malawi. It is in the Mzimba district 20km from "the capital of the North" - Mzuzu. It has a catchment population of 150000, most of whom are subsistence farmers and there are high levels of poverty and unemployment. Some people also grow tobacco, which is Malawi's main export accounting for >70% of the country's export earnings.

The principle diseases encountered at Ekwendeni hospital as in the rest of Malawi are Malaria, Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (including TB) and Genitourinary disease. HIV/AIDS has had a significant impact on the country's population with male life expectancy just 37 years. Of 1391 people tested for HIV at Ekwendeni Hospital in 2002, 31% were found to be HIV positive.

The hospital itself has 188 beds but has space for up to 230 patients. The main wards are Male, Female, Paediatrics and Maternity. There are also two separate isolation wards for male and female tuberculosis patients.

Donations for the cycle ride can be made by:
Emailing:           This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or
Sending a cheque made payable to Prentice Events to:
PrenticeEvents, PO Box 29151, Dunfermline, KY12 7ZW

About ESRI (UK)

ESRI (UK) is part of the global ESRI network. With the single, largest pool of GIS expertise in the UK, the company is the technical authority on GIS. ESRI (UK) provides solutions, technology and services including off the shelf applications built on the ArcGIS software suite and an extensive range of consulting and training services.

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