The change is in your pocket

Wheeling for good: Big Issue vendors cycling for a healthier SA

Posted on September 20, 2012  /  1 Comment

Twelve vendors of The Big Issue will get healthier and more eco-friendly over the coming months, thanks to the donation of 12 bikes from Global Wheeling.

The bikes will be given out to 12 vendors via a lucky draw over the next six months. Zoliwe Mayekiso [pictured here] is the first lucky winner. “I am happy I won. I’ll share my bike with my son because he loves to cycle,” she said. “Thank you Big Issue, and thank you Global Wheeling; this has made my day!”

(read more…)

Acupuncturist on point with free treatment

Posted on June 7, 2012  /  1 Comment

The shirtless man lies so still he could be dead, needles protruding from various parts of his chest and stomach. Gidon Levenbach stands quietly over him, amid Chinese lanterns and Jacquard scarves, hung to spruce up the white walls of the makeshift health clinic at the Scalabrini Centre in Cape Town’s city centre. (read more…)

A day in the life of a working-class hero

Posted on May 10, 2012  /  Comments Off

For most mothers taking care of three or even one child is hard work enough. Christine Booysen, 46, then, can be called a super mom. After her three children grew up, she filled her empty nest with 20 children in need of a home. And she’s a day-mom to a further 20 children who would otherwise spend their days on the streets. With only her husband’s modest income to support the massive brood, but with a lot of love to give, Booysen’s small three-bedroom home in Lavender Hill has become a sanctuary for children in need Fem Eggers discovered. (read more…)

Refugee VI

Posted on August 11, 2011  /  2 Comments

Kicking Hope Into Play: Youth come together in a league of their own

Amid cynicism in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup, Carlos Parreira, former manager of South Africa’s national soccer team Bafana Bafana, famously said: “If anything brings people together it is football.” This message rings true throughout history. Just consider Christmas Day 1914, two warring nations, England and Germany, ceased fire for a single day to play a game of kick-about across the desolate “no man’s land”. (read more…)

Global Wheeling

Posted on August 11, 2011  /  2 Comments

Two-wheel world aids social empowerment and greener future

Kayden Kleinhans was working in the UK when he decided to make a serious change in his lifestyle. He packed in the suit and sedentary office work for a job as a bicycle courier in London. Impressed with the simplicity, affordability and environmental benefits of two-wheeled travel, Kleinhans realised that he’d clocked onto something good. In fact, as far as he can help it, he hasn’t travelled by any other means since. Determined to spread the bicycle gospel, Kleinhans began setting up the Global Wheeling Foundation, an organisation promoting bicycle culture as a means to environmental consciousness and social empowerment. To raise funds for the foundation, Kleinhans has embarked on a global bike ride starting in Manchester in the UK and ending at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, United States, crossing a total of 40 countries in between. (read more…)

Zip-Zap Circus School

Posted on August 11, 2011  /  Comments Off

Magic of circus art a trampoline for transforming young lives

Nineteen years ago circus performer and stunt man Brent van Rensburg and his trapeze-artist French wife, Laurence Estève, came to Cape Town with little more than a dream to help kids from all backgrounds develop the skills needed to become young leaders, good citizens and ambassadors for South Africa through the medium of circus art. Today, their Zip-Zap Circus School has more than 26 international shows under its belt, attracts sponsors from across the globe and has more than 150 students enrolled. (read more…)