A marvellous med student named Sarah Camp and her trusty bicycle are putting in kilometres of extraordinary kindness on a cross-country cycle aiming to alleviate the student debt of her peers!
South Africa (31 October 2023) — Between long hours, demanding schedules and pressures that university alumni across the world still have recurring nightmares about, another dose of stress many students carry with them long after they leave their backpacks in the past is debt. Student debt is the dark horse of a brighter future for many young people, and with limited options to overcome it, this dark horse isn’t easily shaken off its relentless trail.
However, when the going gets tough, the tough often makes a plan, and that’s exactly what final year med student Sarah Camp and her trusty bicycle are doing for her fellow students.
Sarah is on a cycling mission that began at Ukwanda Medical Campus in Stellenbosch with plans to conclude in KwaZulu-Natal (some 1500 km away). Each kilometre brings her closer to her goal—lightening the load student debt places on her peers.
“Access to education shouldn’t depend on wealth,” shares Sarah, who has created a crowdfunding campaign that’s already a few thousand rand shy of her ultimate fundraising goal.
The doctor-to-be adds that these funds will be used to help Stellenbosch University undergrads with two kinds of debt: registration and graduation debt under #Action4Inclusion.
#Action4Inclusion is an initiative launched by the Student Representative Council and the university’s Centre for Social Justice led by Prof Thuli Madonsela. Its purpose is to bridge the gaps between financial support and community kindness for struggling students, especially when it comes to debt blocking them from receiving their academic records upon graduation or not being able to register for the next year due to debt.
Having already passed her halfway mark, Sarah continues to cycle her heart out with her last check-in seeing her pass the wildflowers in bloom en route to Cradock.
With only a few days to go until the finish line, anyone inspired to support students through Sarah’s cycle can do so here.