AmaQhawe (African Heroes) Cycle Challenge

Who we are:

We are a group of individuals who love to cycle and want to give back to disadvantaged communities. With most charities and community support groups based in the big urban areas, communities in the rural areas are often neglected or have to travel many kilometers to access any kind of assistance.

We strongly believe in UBUNTU and what it stands for. We don’t just want to talk Ubuntu but live it. With the Amaqhawe Cycle Challenge (Wildly cycling for the kids) we will continuously strive to show and be part of the Ubuntu movement by helping those in need.

We therefore request your assistance with regards to our mission and help us take cycling to the region as well as make a difference to the children in the communities we aim to reach.

The Cycle Challenge:

The AmaQhawe Cycle Challenge will be an annual cycle event from Mthatha to Port St John’s with the aim of reaching rural Eastern Cape and raising funds, bicycles, books and board games for under-privileged children in various hospitals & schools in the region.

The annual cycle challenge will aim to continuously and consistently assist and contribute to the welfare of the under privileged in rural Eastern Cape.

We will engage in various marketing avenues, such as social media marketing, promotions at various shopping malls to promote the event and mission, outdoor media and engaging with a local and national newspapers and radio stations, to ensure continuous support in making our annual event increases in support and in the effect we have in the region.

With the modest success of our first two events, we received media attention in the form of an article that was published by the Daily Dispatch on the 4th of March 2014 , Daily Dispatch online publication and 15 January 2015 Mthatha Express. We are also seeing more people attending the start and prize giving events at the finish line in 2nd beach Port St Johns. We have received great feedback from our participants. All the participants that did the first race were back to do the 2nd edition. We have received a great deal of enquiries and pleas to do a 3rd event which we plan to do in line with our mission of growing cycling and giving back to the disadvantaged in this region through cycling. There is clearly a lot of interest from people wanting to participate in the next event, which will be in the December 2015.

We have seen the number of entrants grow by more than 100% in the first 2 events, and we are expecting to again double the entrants and have approximately over 500 supporters through the course for our next event. The cyclists will most likely be a combination of males (70%) and females (30%) aged between 16 years old and 60 years old. Over 60% of cyclists are likely to be educated professionals who fall in the 8 to 10 LSM range. The Cycle Challenge is supported by the City of Mthatha and Port St Johns and will have an immediate and positive impact in the region.

We are all about giving back:

By supporting our initiative, sponsors can achieve higher brand recognition, image enhancement and carry out focused, effective brand marketing directed at a relevant and homogeneous cycling community. In addition, sponsors can gain high visibility and exposure through our website, social media promotions as well as print media coverage.

Recently, we visited our beneficiaries where we handed over books and recreational games. It was during this handover that we realized that we needed to do more and raise more funds than we did. As much as we did something, the needs of these places are HUGE.

We appeal that you help us make a difference in this region. With the assistance of sponsors, we will be able to make a bigger, more sustainable difference.

Over and above the books and games we will be giving to our current beneficiaries, we plan to do the following for the next race:

-Identify more beneficiaries. We will be looking at more schools between Mthatha and Port St John’s, focusing more on rural schools. We will also identify other children’s wards in Mthatha, Libode and Port St John’s.

-Raise more funds for books and games, toys for the sick, and recreational facilities;

-Collect food parcels and nutritional foods for the children in the hospitals and clinics.

-Raise funds for AmaQhawana Resource Centres. We realized that, just giving schools more books was not enough. We have to provide a facility where these books will be managed and issued fairly. This facility will be like a library and managed by trained volunteers and teachers. The Resource centre’s will be ventilated containers holding at least 500 books, and at least 3 computers with restricted internet (only educational websites will be available). The Resource Centre’s will also be open to the children in the immediate community. At a cost of just over R56000, we hope to get at least one up and running by 2016.

Mission

Our mission is to continuously and consistently assist and contribute to the development and welfare of the under privileged children in South Africa as well as promote cycling and grow in semi-urban/rural South Africa

Aims and Objectives

• 1)To make our mission sustainable
• 2)To attract more people to help in our mission
• 3)Strive to make giving a more joyous and rewarding exercise for all
• 4)To introduce cycling to the youth and to have them actively participate in cycling in the region
• 5)To promote healthy lifestyles
• 6)Unearth cycling talent in the forgotten areas

Long Term Goals

• 1)Showcase the region as a beautiful cycling destination
• 2)Unearth cycling talent in the region
• 3)Establish a local team to represent the region in national cycling events
• 4)Develop the cycle challenge to have national appeal
• 5)Sustainable and increased contribution towards our current and new beneficiaries
• 6)Continue to have a positive impact in the region