Qhubeka: changing lives through bicycles
14 March 2014
Team MTN-Qhubeka, Africa's first ever UCI registered Professional Continental cycling
team, is going from strength to strength. So, too, is its campaign to help change
lives through bicycles.
Through its partnership with South African non-profit organisation Qhubeka, the
team helps rural African communities by giving bicycles to children in return for work
done to improve their environment and their community: for every 100 trees grown to
at least 30 centimetres, for every ton of waste collected, of for improved
results at school, Qhubeka donates one bicycle.
The team races to build exposure and funding for Qhubeka's rural initiatives and rides
to inspire potential new athletes within the community of Qhubeka bike recipients.
Buffalo Bicycles
Qhubeka's Buffalo Bicycles are engineered specifically for African terrain and load
requirements, designed by World Bicycle Relief in Chicago, USA, and assembled
and
tested in South Africa.
At the launch of its #BicyclesChangeLives campaign in February, Team TN-Qhubeka
set itself the goal of raising R2.2-million, enough to sponsor 1 100 bicycles, this year.
That would mean a full container load of Qhubeka bicycles to give to people who
have earned them.
Backing for the project also comes directly from the Team MTN-Qhubeka riders
themselves, who donate a portion of their prize money to the charity.
'Incredibly important'
"Qhubeka is incredibly important to the riders and staff on the team and it is one of
the major reasons why we have attracted such fantastic talent to our team," Team
Principal Douglas Ryder said at the launch. "Our partners also contribute towards
Qhubeka through various ways, kit sales, bike sales, product sales and mobile
contracts.
"We want to help as many people as possible by providing them with bicycles. By
making a donation to Qhubeka, you are helping to
change lives with bicycles."
'Effective and economical'
"Rural schoolchildren are particularly badly affected by a lack of mobility," Qhubeka
states on its website. "In South Africa, of the 16-million school-going children, 12-
million walk to school. Of these, 500 000 walk more than two hours each way,
spending four hours getting to and back from school each day. Bicycles are the most
effective and economical method of quickly addressing this problem."
Since 2005, in partnership with the Wildlands Conservation Trust, more than 40 000
bicycles have been distributed by Qhubeka. For children, this means reducing their
commute time to school by up to 75 percent.
Advantages of bicycles
Qhubeka also notes that "a bicycle increases a person's carrying capacity by fives
times; healthcare workers can visit more than double the amount of patients per day
with a bicycle; marks improve by an average of 25% for children who ride
a bicycle
to school; schools where children ride bicycles see attendance rates rise by 18% on
average."
'Surpassed my expectations'
In October 2013, Anthony Fitzhenry, the founder of the Qhubeka charity, praised the
work done by the professional cycling team, saying in a statement: "The awareness
the team has brought to the charity has completely surpassed my expectations. I
was completely surprised by the amount of support.
"Our objectives are still clear," Fitzhenry said. "There are 12-million children walking
to school in South Africa, and we want to change that. Education is the key to
building a good life. We found some children were walking to school for up to three
hours and were exhausted by the time they got there."
Acknowledging the support the Qhubeka charity has received, he said: "We've been
delighted at the major brands in the world who've come on board. People like MTN
and Coca-Cola getting involved is really good
for us.
"The goals are still the same. We've learnt a lot of things along the way. Going
forward, we'd like to get more government support too."
SAinfo reporter
Members of Team MTN-Qhubeka lend support to the recipient of a Qhubeka bicycle (Photo: Team MTN-Qhubeka)
