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Through the Nedbank Sports Trust, more than 2 000 children in the Western Cape have been able to build childhood memories through a special cycling programme.
“Kids in the Western Cape need some distraction and some assistance in terms of their lifestyle and there are so many drugs, there's so much gangsterism and teenage pregnancy. We have created a programme that circumvents all of this and assists the children,” says Carl Crawford, Marketing and Communications Manager at the trust.
Nedbank and The Sports Trust have worked in partnership on the cycling programme since 2005. The programme supplies bikes and supports the training and participation of over 200 cyclists in 12 high schools in the Western Cape, in the Boland, the Cape Metro and the West Coast every year.
The programme has also broadened its scope and now includes disabled cyclists in previously disadvantaged areas. To date, the programme has donated over 1200 bikes and touched the lives of more than 2000 children. It is funded through Nedbank’s Affinity Programme where ordinary Nedbank clients choose to donate and #SupportWhatMatters at no cost to clients.
“The extraordinary role and power of sport in the mental and physical development of young people is the reason why Nedbank partners with The Sports Trust to enhance education through sport from an early age,” says Poovi Pillay, Head of Group CSI at Nedbank. “Nedbank is one of the founding Trustees of The Sports Trust, and our partnership spans 27 years of working with underprivileged schools and communities throughout South Africa.”
The children are trained in bike safety and participate in various cycling competitions in the Cape.
“It's throughout the Western Cape, and we concentrate on the high school age category. So, from about 13 to 19, because we found that was the most vulnerable age group in the life of a child,” says Crawford.
Key to the work the programme can do is community support. Crawford says they often use community members as marshalls so that they can feel a sense of ownership over the programme.
“Community participation besides the schools is crucial because you don't want these kids to be seen as the elite, for instance, and be victimised and vandalized by the rest of the community. So you've got to get full buy-in from the community as well. And almost the aspiration to be like one of those kids on a bike. Being on a bike is all about enhancing education. A kid on the bike gains discipline, structure, respect and responsibility,” he says.
Crawford has been a part of the programme since its inception and says he hasn’t had one highlight but rather 2000.
“Every kid we've had has been a success. Every kid has changed their life. They're so happy to show me their marks at the end of the year and tell me about what they've done on the soccer field as well, or the netball field. I'm very close to the kids on the ground there and there was a stage I had to slow it down a little bit because I could sit for three, four hours in the evening just engaging with the kids, telling me about their day, marks, and about the challenges,” he says.
Join Nedbank and #SupportWhatMatters HERE.
This post was sponsored by Nedbank and produced by Adspace Studio.
