Qhubeka

Qhubeka is an Nguni (Zulu, Xhosa) word that means “to carry on”, “to progress”, “to move forward.”

Qhubeka projects aim to help rural communities move forward and progress by giving bicycles to children in return for work done to improve their environment and their community.

Team MTN-Qhubeka is Africa’s most winning and largest multi-discipline pro cycle race team. The talented athletes in Team MTN race to build exposure for Qhubeka’s rural initiatives and ride to inspire potential new athletes within the community of Qhubeka bike recipients.

Transportation is a fundamental element of development… Most of Africa’s rural population has no access to transport and people have to walk long distances to access opportunity, education, healthcare, shops and community services. Rural schoolchildren are particularly badly affected by lack of mobility. 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.

Qhubeka on the Bikes-for-Life initiative: “We are delighted with the progress of the Wildlands Bike-for-Life project. Particularly the progress made with the Wildlands bicycle assembly plant in Pietermaritzburg and the density of bicycles now in the Vosloorus node. Apart from the life changing benefits of bicycles to recipients, thousands of trees and masses of waste were bartered in this work-to-earn program which has taught many communities the value of entrepreneurial life skills. Three times the number of bicycles were delivered in this last year in comparison to the previous year. The partnership with Wildlands in the last year has been a significant step towards achieving our goal, where transportation is no longer a barrier to healthcare, education, sport and economic opportunity.” Anthony Fitzhenry of Qhubeka