The Trek4Mandela crew sets off from the Nelson Mandela Foundation
On 7 July 2014, amid cheers and hoots, the Trek4Mandela crew of climbers departed from the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg, for their Kilimanjaro summit attempt.
The team members, under the Caring4Girls banner, will climb Africa’s highest peak to raise awareness about the plight facing young girls during their menstrual cycles.
Trek4Mandela will also raise funds to help supply young girls in impoverished schools across the country with feminine care products.
Led by Richard Mabaso, founder of the Imbumba Foundation, and Sibusiso Vilane, the first black African to summit Mount Everest, the crew received messages of support from the Sir Ketumile Masire Foundation, the Thembikile Mandela Foundation, Mrs Graça Machel and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Advocate Tsheko Ratsheko at Exxaro Resources Limited, the Banking Association of South Africa’s Cas Coovadia, and Lil-lets South Africa.
Trek4Mandela runs from 6 to 21 July and comprises a drive from Johannesburg to Gabarone, Botswana; a drive from Gabarone to Lusaka, Zambia; a flight to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; a pre-climb orientation at Kilimanjaro Mountain Resort in Arusha, Tanzania; and the final trek to Uhuru peak on 18 July, Mandela Day.
What inspires them to climb Mount Kilimanjaro?
Trek4Mandela team leader Sibusiso Vilane
“I overheard an uncomfortable conversation between my mom and my niece, where they discussed the problems my niece faced every month – she didn’t have access to sanitary towels. I couldn’t believe what I heard – she would have to miss school a few days every month and stay home because she had, physically, become a woman,” said Mabaso.
That overheard conversation inspired Mabaso.
He decided to do all he could to help his niece, and to grow awareness about the plight so many other girls in impoverished communities face every month.
He launched the Caring4Girls project, with the aim of providing puberty and menstrual-hygiene training to underprivileged girls and also supporting them with sanitary towels.
“Girls in Africa can miss up to 50 days of schooling each year due to menstrual-related challenges.
This means that on average a girl may miss up to 300 days over a period of six years,” he said.
The Trek4Mandela project is a natural offshoot of the campaign, which sees Mabaso and Vilane teaming up to do great things for young girls in communities across Africa.
“When Tenzing Norgay, the Nepalese Sherpa who conquered the summit of Mount Everest with Edmund Hillary, heard that his son was going to climb the mountain, he reportedly said to him ‘My son, I climbed the mountain so that you wouldn’t have to,’” said Vilane, also the first black African to walk unassisted to the South Pole.
Richard Mabaso can't wait to get going!
“As I set off on my 18th Kilimanjaro expedition, I want to share the same message with all those young girls in difficult situations who have lost hope. I want to tell them that I’m climbing the mountain so that they don’t have to.
“I want to bring self-esteem back to Africa’s young girls. I want them to be proud of becoming young women. I want them to feel that they have a deserved space within their society. That is what we are trying to achieve at Trek4Mandela; we are ultimately trying to be of service to others,” he said.
Message from Mrs Graça Machel
“As a young girl, I too lived in a rural community. It humbles me to think that this gesture has come from a young man, who has chosen to climb the highest peak of the continent to show his support for hardships encountered by young girls.
Mrs Graca Machel with Charlotte Sibiya, a beneficiary of the Caring4Girls programme
“And from this great height, he will reach out to young girls in disadvantaged circumstances. What a superb example of a young South African … Thank you, Richard. May God bless that spirit that sparkles inside of you.
“Many of us talk about Madiba’s legacy. But the most important part of honouring his legacy is to do something, in your own way, that touches the life of someone else. His legacy is not only the massive shift that took place in South Africa, the transformation from apartheid to democracy; his legacy is about caring for others … and that is something any one of us can do. Trek4Mandela is an example of this – doing something that makes all of us so proud.”
Click here to view the gallery of images
UPDATE
The Trek4Mandela Crew successfully summited Kilimanjaro on 18 July 2014, Mandela Day.
Click to view the gallery of the crew on top of the highest peak in Africa