The Sweetbike Community Project recently helped many high schoolers get their own bicycles so that they can get to school without stress!
South Coast, South Africa (04 April 2024) — Access to education remains a barrier for many South African children within rural areas. Among many of the obstacles that stand in the way of educational access is transport. But, in some very good news for some 30 to 40 senior high schoolers on the KwaZulu-Natal lower South Coast, this obstacle has just been blasted thanks to the Sweetbike Community Project!
This donation of bikes was made to Mlonde High School in Lamonti under the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality.
Bicycle beneficiaries are selected according to distance from the schools, family background, financial considerations and the individual’s behaviour track record at school. To maintain the safety of the bikes, the children also receive lockers, while their school prints serial numbers on each one to monitor the upkeep by each recipient.
As told by Ayanda Masengemi who oversees the Sweetbike Community Project:
“Of the utmost importance is assisting the pupils in getting to school on time so they can enjoy full attendance and excel in the final phase of high school. We want to see a high pass rate and we are so privileged to be a part of facilitating their success.”
Implemented in 2018 as a result of the dire need for a low-cost and accessible mode of transportation for school children within rural areas, the Sweetbike Community Project is working hard to make sure that pupils who previously may have dropped out of school due to a lack of transport, no longer resort to this.
The Project works by way of second-hand bicycles that are donated from around the world and sent to South Africa for refurbishment at the Sweetbike Workshop.
Here, community members undergo upskilling, training to work on the bikes, making the Project a win-win.
The latest donation of bicycles has brought the total number of bikes gifted to remote schools in the region to around 2300 modes of transport!
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