The countdown has begun for the 10-year anniversary milestone climb of Trek4Mandela, the annual expedition to summit Mount Kilimanjaro on Mandela Day.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation with the Imbumba Foundation hosted a 100 days countdown to the anniversary climb of the Trek4Mandela Expedition on Friday.
Trek4Mandela is an annual expedition to summit Africa’s highest peak on Mandela Day, July 18, to honour Nelson Mandela’s living legacy.
The expedition was established in 2012 by Imbumba Foundation chief executive, founder and social entrepreneur Richard Mabaso after his niece started menstruating; however, she did not have sanitary wear and her uncle felt useless as he could not help her.
During the event, Mabaso provided the guests, which included previous and expected climbers, an update on the progress Trek4Mandela has made since 2012, including the fact the expedition has had over 300 local and international climbers to date and the climber’s contributions to Trek4Mandela has raised 10 million sanitary towels.
The founder further revealed that out of the 300 climbers, Linda Reddy is the initiative's top fund-raiser having raised over R800 000 in 2021.
The summit brings together inspired individuals from corporate and public backgrounds to assist in raising funds and creating awareness for the Caring4Girls programme.
“Ten years later, more than 1.5 million girls across South Africa and neighbouring countries have been assisted and empowered. Caring4Girls has had more of an impact on the girl child than just assisting with menstrual hygiene support, which is evident through our beneficiary stores,” Mabaso said.
He added that in December 2020, the organisation launched its own branded Caring4Girls sanitary pads. Through Caring4Girls’ corporate partners, West Pack Lifestyle, Big Save and Choppies, the Imbumba Foundation sold over 4,5 million sanitary pads within its first year.
HR Director at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Palesa Ntoagae, who is part of the 2022 Trek4Mandela Expedition, highlighted the the significance of initiatives such as Trek4Mandela
“The reality is that period poverty is something that tips the scale unfairly for women from a young age. We want to ensure that we support social partners to do everything that we can to ensure that no girl child misses a day of school or is denied access to health-care facilities,” Ntoagae said.
Ntoagae and West Pack Lifestyle's Ricky Castanho further handed over a cash donation to the Imbumba Foundation for the Trek4Mandela and Caring4Girls initiatives.
This year also serves as the first time that Nelson Mandela legacy foundation organisation chief executives will summit together, and these include Nelson Mandela Foundation chief executive Sello Hatang, Nelson Mandela Children's Fund chief executive Kone Gugushe and Nelson Mandela Rhodes Foundation chief executive Judy Sikuza.
“It was very nice when the three of us were standing in the Drakensberg this weekend and showing solidarity and serving this notion of serving like Mandela and the mandate that Tata Madiba left with these organisations for what they can actively do for society,” Gugushe said.
Trek4Mandela is led by renowned South African adventurer and motivational speaker, Sibusiso Vilane – the first black African to conquer the three Poles challenge: South Pole, North Pole and Mount Everest.
Vilane emphasised that the motivation to summit the mountain is compounded when a climber has a good enough reason to climb.
“Just find enough reasons to do it and you will go and do it. In the end it’s not about what you do that matters the most but it’s why you do it,” he said.
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