I have been selected as part of the 'The Gryphons Abroad Team' who will be delivering an educational and sustainable project in partnership with ‘The Bambisinani Partnership Charity’ (charity no. 1163461). The project will take place in the Kwa Zulu Natal Province, South Africa in June 2018.  

As part of the programme we will spend one week carrying out the ‘Inspire through Sport’ initiative by working with 4 local primary schools in the Eshowe district. We will be teaching them leadership skills, sports activities and classroom lessons. This will develop valuable skills and instil confidence in the students to help improve their future employability.

As someone who has personally always had an incredible passion for sport, I am determined to inspire others and provide the chance for them to find the same enjoyment in sport. I feel sport has an incredibly unique ability to bring people together and inspire positivity, not only due to the endorphins released through exercise but also due to the wonderful opportunity to celebrate talent, success, improvement and especially teamwork. Recognising that sport has been an excellent way for myself to tackle a negative mind-set and as a release following negative experiences, I am keen to continue to engage others in sport and crucially I understand the potential that sport has to empower more vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.

We will also be leading a ‘Cycle to Success’ scheme at Mnyakanya High School. These children are facing huge barriers to education due to the large distances that they have to travel to reach school every day (up to 2 hours walk each way). Thus, we aim to teach the students life changing skills of not only how to ride bicycles but also the maintenance required. Personally, cycling has enabled me to undertake my placement year with greater ease, significantly reducing the journey time and enabling me to travel from work to my other commitments and social activities. I am grateful at the opportunity within this trip to teach children in South Africa to ride and maintain their bikes in improve their ability to access education.

In order to deliver this project, we are each required to fundraise £2000 in order to provide the equipment, bicycles and our expertise that make this project possible. I would like to use my position as a young, enthusiastic and passionate woman to instil confidence in these young people, improving their personal development and future opportunities. The impact we have will be especially important for young girls, as cycling is not a traditionally or culturally accepted skill in this region.

My fundraising ideas:

- Bucket shaking/ bag packing

- Auction of promises

- Team Cyclathon

- Gig Night

Any questions or suggestions please don’t hesitate to contact me!

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