Ga-Rankuwa foundation fights substance abuse through cycling
The foundation has introduced cycling to kids and old people around Ga-Rankuwa over the past five years.
In an effort to fight substance abuse and introduce an unfamiliar sport to township children, Victor Phiri co-founded the Ga-Rankuwa Cycling Challenge Against Substance Abuse.
The foundation has been in existence since 2017 and it has managed to yield positive results.
Cycling is a sport that black people from townships are not familiar with but it can be used as a weapon to fight substance abuse according to Phiri.
He said they are using bicycles to get kids off the streets and keep them busy with productive things like being better in sports.
“In that way, they cannot get into things like drugs,” he said.
He added that the foundation has done more than what it aimed to do, having helped some kids and old people get into shape as well.
“There’s more to this than fighting drugs. They were sick or obese and now they’re healthy. One kid, who is an orphan, got involved in this and now he’s training with Exxaro TMB Academy,” he said.
Despite the amount of work the foundation has done, Phiri said a lot still needed to be done if they wanted to expand this sport in the townships.
“We still need to expose a lot of kids to cycling. We need mountain biking tracks and bike lanes. We want bike parks in Ga-Rankuwa,” he said.
“For now, we don’t have a cycling park and I’m not happy about it, but we have to be happy that we have exposed local kids to cycling.”
He said his work with the foundation has been fulfilling.
“Take, for example, the orphan kid who is cycling for Exxaro. If he wants to go to school, Exxaro will pay for his tuition and take care of him financially. That’s fulfilling,” he said.
He said black people need to know that cycling was not only for white people.
Anyone interested in taking part can contact Ga-Rankuwa Cycling Against Substance Abuse via Facebook or phone Victor Phiri at 072 199 7316.
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