Something as basic as clean, new underwear should never be a luxury. And that is exactly why philanthropist Angela Yeung will be climbing Mount Elbrus – to support a so often overlooked need experienced daily by survivors of human trafficking.
Johannesburg, South Africa (24 August 2026) – No stranger to Good Things Guy, South African entrepreneur and philanthropist Angela Yeung is a tireless force for good. She routinely puts her body on the line, summiting some of the highest mountains to champion worthy causes and support victims of injustice.
After summiting Mount Everest from the North Side in 2025 and climbing for the Impilo Collection Foundation‘s 8,849 Bras for Humanity campaign, Yeung found herself asking a question:
“Does every mountain I climb need to have a cause attached to it?”
At the time, she had hoped her next mountain would be a quiet one.
This August, she will travel to Russia to climb Mount Elbrus, 5,642 metres, the highest mountain in Europe and one of the Seven Summits. She originally intended simply to climb.
Then something happened back home that changed the purpose of the journey.
Earlier this year, the Impilo Collection Foundation team was distributing some of the 8,849 bras collected through its EmpowerHer campaign. During one of these distributions, the team encountered girls who had been rescued from human trafficking.
Their request was strikingly simple. They needed underwear.
It was an everyday necessity that many people rarely think about, yet for vulnerable girls and women it represented something much greater: hygiene, comfort, privacy and dignity.
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“But when girls who have already experienced unimaginable circumstances ask you for something as basic as underwear, you cannot forget it.”
That encounter has inspired the Foundation’s next chapter: the 365 Dignity Project, built around an extraordinarily simple proposition:
R1 a day. R365 a year. 365 Days of Dignity.
The initiative will raise funds to purchase and distribute new underwear to vulnerable people and communities.
Unlike many other items of donated clothing, underwear cannot simply be passed from one person to another. It must be provided new, making it one of the most overlooked necessities in traditional clothing drives.
The 365 Dignity Project aims to turn this invisible need into a sustained national movement.
Dignity Begins Underneath
The project builds on the Foundation’s experience distributing thousands of bras through its 8,849 Bras for Humanity initiative.
Again and again, the Foundation saw that clothing, blankets and shoes might be donated, while new underwear remained an unmet need.
The lesson was simple: Dignity begins underneath. Rather than creating another once-off donation campaign, the Foundation wants South Africans to participate in a sustainable model of giving through Days of Dignity.
Individuals are invited to contribute R365 – just R1 for every day of the year.
People can also donate new underwear or organise collection drives through businesses, schools, universities and community organisations.
As Yeung attempts to climb the 5,642 metres of Mount Elbrus, the Impilo Collection Foundation is also challenging Corporate South Africa to climb alongside her in a different way. Businesses are invited to contribute R5,642 (R1 for every metre of Mount Elbrus) and become founding supporters of the 365 Dignity Project.
“Five thousand six hundred and forty-two metres is my mountain,” says Yeung.
“But dignity is a mountain we can climb together. A company can give R5,642. An individual can give R365. Someone else can donate underwear. The important thing is That Everybody Can Do Something.”
A Personal Climb Becomes One for Survivors
For Yeung, the decision to connect Elbrus with the 365 Dignity Project was deeply personal. Mountains have always represented more than summits. They are places of reflection, vulnerability and perspective.
After Everest, she initially wanted Elbrus to remain private, a mountain climbed without publicity, fundraising targets or expectations.
But the encounter with the young survivors changed that.
“I realised that I don’t need a cause in order to climb a mountain,” Yeung says. “But climbing for someone else gives me a greater reason to climb.”
She will be away for approximately two weeks for the expedition, during which the Impilo Collection Foundation will share updates from the journey and stories explaining the purpose behind the 365 Dignity Project.
The emphasis, however, will not be on conquering a mountain. It will be on using the mountain to start something that continues long after Yeung comes home.
The Foundation’s ambition is to grow 365 Dignity into an ongoing programme supported by individuals, corporates, retailers, manufacturers, schools and community organisations throughout South Africa. Its impact will be measured not only in money but by turning small, consistent acts of generosity into practical assistance for people who need it.
As Yeung climbs 5,642 metres towards the summit of Mount Elbrus, she hopes thousands of South Africans will help move another mountain at home – a mountain created by an overlooked need hiding in plain sight.
Sources: Supplied
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