Every day is Mandela day for Trek4Mandela and Caring4Girls
SANDTON – “I made a commitment to not just do it because I want to but to rather do it for something beyond myself. Helping a girl child because I am a girl child and I come from the village. They are me and I am them,” says Itumeleng Mehale
South Africa is filled with many social issues that are either in plain sight or hidden from the public view, from poverty and unemployment, the list continues.
A social issue which many did not realise had a huge impact in South Africa, according to Richard Mabaso, CEO and founder of The Imbumba Foundation, is the lack of menstrual hygiene in rural areas. Mabaso said most of these rural girls who have their first menstrual cycle have no resources or guidance to support them during the most important phase in their lives. “This results in many girls missing out on school due to period poverty,” added Mabaso during the Trek4Mandela event held in Sandton on September 2.
Communication manager of the foundation, Sina Moyane described the organisation. “The Imbumba Foundation is a non-profit organisation by innovative and social entrepreneur, Richard Mabaso where it aims to bring upliftment within rural and marginalised communities, through investing and mentoring individuals. The Imbumba Foundation has two flagship programmes, being Trek4Mandela and Caring4Girls both founded in 2012.”
She said Trek4Mandela honoured the legacy of Nelson Mandela and by doing so, individuals could go on an expedition to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. This happened annually and it was led by motivational speaker, Sibusiso Vilane.
According to the Trek4Mandela Africa website, the initiative assists in raising funds and creating awareness for the Caring4Girls programme.
“Caring4Girls is a menstrual hygiene programme that provides adolescent girls with sanitary towels, menstrual hygiene and puberty education support,” added Moyane.
The event touched base on various topics that the foundation aims at tackling, such as the issue of schoolgirls who have no means of essential hygiene products and guidance, and to welcome back the individuals who had climbed Kilimanjaro.
Prominent figures who have shown their support to the cause for years attended the special occasion to share their experiences. These prominent figures included actor, Clement Maosa and Tebogo Thapelo Thekisho, who is known by his stage name, ProVerb.
ProVerb concluded in his speech that every ultimate challenge was like a mountain and the main goal was to climb and to overcome it.
Itumeleng Mehale, one of the participants who attended this year’s annual Trek4Mandela, spoke about why she participated in the annual expedition. “I got involved through Saray Khumalo. She summited [Mount] Everest in 2014 or 2015 and she was the first black woman to do so,” she said.
The event concluded with Conroy van der Westhuizen, chief corporate social investment officer of Glencore Alloys, handing over cheque of R1 848 793.75 to the foundation in support of its programmes.
