Cape Argus PicknPay Cycle Tour

The Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust, together with the PPA, handed over 12 new bicycles to the Vissershok Primary School near Durbanville in Cape Town, as part of its efforts to give back to the local community.

The school is in a remote rural area, with many of its learners having to walk for up to two hours to get to and from school.

These bicycles will play a crucial role in making the commute easier for the learners, and will be used to introduce the learners to some of the fun rides in the area.

In August 2011, the Pedal Power Association handed a highly trained patrol dog to join Table Mountain National Park’s visitor safety dog unit through the “Gift-a-Patrol-Dog Campaign”.

“Purdy”, a two-year old German Shepherd, joined three other patrol dogs at the SANParks offices at Kloof Nek. In addition to funding the dog, the PPA is also funding Purdy’s food for a year, bringing this funding initiative to a total of R22 000. Table Mountain is in the news every once in a while with reports of muggings on the mountain.

“The Pedal Power Association is delighted to be able to donate a patrol dog to be used on Table Mountain to assist with the future safety of not only PPA members, but all cyclists, hikers and runners who use ‘our’ mountain,” said PPA’s Chairman, Steve Hayward. “We hope that Purdy will have many long and happy years of active service.”

Some Pedal Power staff recently visited Zorgvliet West, a farm nestled near the top of the Helshoogte Pass in Stellenbosch, where a project supported by the Pedal Power Association has a huge impact on many of the surrounding farm children’s lives.

The Anna Foundation was founded in 2005 by Anna Brom. Anna volunteered in a township school in Mpumalanga and it was there that it became clear that there was a critical need for greater support to these isolated and underprivileged schools in South Africa.

Due to the fact that farms are spread over a large area and are far more isolated than urban or township areas, there is no central community area with the closest town being tens of kilometers away. Anna soon realized that there was a lack of structure and supervision for the young learners when returning home, no one to surpervise homework as well as to ensure that the child stayed out of mischief.

The Anna Foundation was specifically created to provide support to these schools and to help create a stimulating environment for these children after school. The Anna Foundation mission is to “assist disadvantaged schools and communities by providing academic, social and environmental support and equipping children with skills for lifelong learning. We recognise each child as unique and special and aim to support the holistic development of the child”.

Amongst others, Pedal Power donated R35 000 for bikes, spares and equipment needed by the farm children to travel from their respective farms and schools to the Anna foundation. The Pedal Power team was present to handover the new bicycles as well as helmets and repair kits to the exceptionally excited farm children. One of the boys Thuli said “it must be Christmas!” as he started pedalling up and down the grass patch in front of the school.