The gift of transport
QHUBEKA, the charity that moves people forward with bicycles, distributed 580 bicycles in four different locations yesterday.
Masiphumelele High School pupils were donated 100 bicycles by Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka, Africa’s first World Tour cycling team.
The recipients were schoolchildren who formed part of learn-to-earn programmes in the Western Cape and Gauteng, as well as adults who are part of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture’s Impilo Household Vegetable Garden Establishment, Grey Water Harvesting Project, and Community Policing Forum (CFP) volunteers in Soweto.
In Plettenberg Bay, bicycles were distributed to 170 pupils at Murray High School.
“The Plettenberg distribution was bitter-sweet for us. Our programme there was initiated by Jan Rossouw, who passed away suddenly earlier this month. Our team is devastated by his loss, but we see this bicycle distribution as a reminder of the wonderful work Jan did, and the programme as a great tribute to his character,” said Qhubeka executive director Tsatsi Phaweni.
In Paarl, 70 bicycles were distributed to adults involved in creating food gardens through the Impilo Household Vegetable Garden Establishment and Grey Water Harvesting Project of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, in co-operation with the Great Commission Networks (GCN) NPC.
“The bicycles, funded by Nederburg, will help the gardeners involved in this programme be more mobile. The recipients will use them to help tend their gardens and take their veggies to market,” said Phaweni.
The programme participants also receive a starter kit from the Western Cape Department of Agriculture through the Cape Agency for Sustainable Integrated Development in Rural Areas, which includes a hoe, rake, watering can, grey water harvesting and irrigation system, organic compost, fertiliser, and vegetable seedlings and seeds.
In Gauteng, 240 bicycles were distributed to Bona Comprehensive and Selelekela (100 each) schools in Orlando, Soweto, and 40 to members of the local CPF.
The bicycles were funded by Volkswagen South Africa and are part of a Qhubeka Shift programme in the region, in partnership with the City of Johannesburg.
Shift programmes are aimed at shifting an entire community forward using bicycles, transforming communities through the power of personal transport.