Ntokozo is 13 years old and received his bicycle in the first term of 2016 as part of the Urban Scholar Bicycle (USB) programme – a partnership between Qhubeka and the City of Johannesburg. He lives in Orlando, Soweto and is loving his bicycle. Here’s what he has to say:
“I used to walk an hour to school everyday. I had to leave home at 6h00 every day to get to school on time. I now ride to school every day and it saves me half an hour. The best thing bout my bicycle is that it helps me travel around Soweto a lot and my mother sends me to Usave [a local grocery store] and by bicycle it saves a lot of time. It has helped me travel around easier.
Our community needs more bicycles because a lot of children are walking and the students come late… so the school punishes them… more bicycles will help stop that.
My family are so happy that I have a bicycle because they can send me everywhere to collect stuff for them… we save a lot of transport money.
When I leave school I want to be a professional soccer player… I want to play for Orlando Pirates!”
You can help us to mobilise more people with bicycles by donating to BicyclesChangeLives or taking part in Qhubeka 5 000.