Leonard Arap Kirwa is a name that is not new to many radio lovers within Eldoret town and its environs.
The youthful journalist hosts a popular afternoon Kalenjin show on Upendo FM, an Eldoret Catholic Diocese-owned Radio station that is hosted at the Sacred Heart cathedral.
To radio lovers, Kirwa is a name that informs, entertains and brings to them best blend of music but to bodaboda operators in Nandi Hills, he is a man with their interests at heart.
When he is not entertaining and informing his audience on Radio, Kirwa will be in the rural villages engaging bodaboda operators on their safety and general well-being.
Kirwa has already initiated a programme that seeks to train the operators on the basic traffic laws and regulations. So far, about 200 operators have benefited from the initiative.
“We train the operators and later give them driving licenses at the end of the course,” he says.
The initiative has already received backing from the Neema Institute and Science and Technology as well as the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC) Eldoret Diocese.
Leonard Arap Kirwa flagging off a bodaboda safety training drive. [Source/Leonard Arap Kirwa]
Asked why he chose to focus on bodabodas, Kirwa says it is because of the many challenges the sector that employs many youths has been through.
“Many vices have been associated with the bodabodas, especially accidents and I thought taking the operators through training will be the best way of addressing it,” he said in an interview with Hivisasa in Eldoret town on Friday.
“I also realised that a good number of people in this business don’t have licenses and when they are caught by police officers, they are forced to pay an amount of money that is more than enough to facilitate them to get the document,” Kirwa added.
Under the initiative that also trains the bodaboda operators on basic mechanical skills (mechanics) and Public Relations, 65 youths in Nandi Hills and 111 from O’lessos have benefited.
To the youthful journalist, this is just but the beginning as he targets to reach more youths so that they can be fully equipped to fend for their families.
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