Cycling4Sisters: Together we can make a difference!

Help us achieve our goals to support vulnerable girls – to care for their health and restore their dignity.

Launched in 2017 by a committed group of female cyclists, Cycling4Sisters is a charitable organisation that manages community interventions to help spread the message of female empowerment and self-care in rural and disadvantaged areas of the Western Cape.

Focused on empowering high school going girls, Cycling4Sisters’ current initiative involves providing sustainable female hygiene products to these girls. Motivated by the distressing statistics that proport that on average a young South African girl may miss up to a week of school every month due to their menstrual cycle and not having adequate sanitary protection, Cycling4Sisters has issued a call to action to help positively impact the situation.

With ramifications beyond the distress and discomfort experienced by these girls; the time spent away as a result of menstruation can amount to missing as much as 20% of their total school days over an average of about 5 years. Critical research conducted by UNESCO in this area, directly correlates the lack of days missed with an increased dropout rate. Further research undertaken in Ghana has also shown that the provision of free sanitary packs led to a substantial increase in school attendance.

With access to education a fundamental step in improving the lives of these girls and equipping them with the tools to achieve their potential, Cycling4Sisters has identified the need to provide access to sanitaryware as paramount. Together with local organisations, we work to distribute packs of toiletries and personal hygiene products in rural areas on regular cycle tours, accompanied by a series of one-to-one talks that aim to educate, empower and, importantly, explore the stigma that surrounds this subject in society.

It’s our belief that with every step forward, we are able to make a meaningful contribution and help towards creating a brighter future for these valuable South African citizens!