In her first public appearance since Madiba’s death, Graça Machel, on behalf of the Foundation wished the travellers from Trek4Mandela well as they headed off.

For the third time in a row, local social entrepreneurs will be embarking on a cross-country journey to the highest peak in Africa to celebrate Mandela Day.

Founder of Caring4Girls and the Imbumba Foundation Richard Mabaso along with Sibusiso Vilane and celebrity Tebogo “ProVerb” Thekishoa, will take the Trek4Mandela expedition to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro.

“It’s hectic, it’s crazy, it’s busy but at the same time it’s very exciting but also emotional as this is the first expedition after Madiba’s departure, but after all it was what we were all urged to do, to continue doing good and continue to celebrate his legacy,” says Mabaso.

Trek4Mandela was founded to support Caring4Girls which is an initiative that supports needy girls with sanitary towels and includes puberty and adolescence dialogues.

A well needed initiative with research showing that a girl could miss up to 50 days of school per year due to menstrual challenges.

“The girls stay out of school for long times at a time and they end up even dropping out because each day if you lose a motivation of being at school and if anything distracts you, you stay out of school, says Mabaso”

“Our main goal is to collect as many packages of sanitary pads as we can to give as many young girls as we can reach.”

Monday 7 July 2014 11:58

Team exhibition leader Sibusiso Vilane is no stranger to great treks. In 2005, Vilane became the first black person to successfully summit Everest from both sides. His big heart his greatest motivation.

“I’m excited to be doing this as a leader because it inspires me to see people pushing themselves beyond their limits – but with me encouraging them and helping them along the way and seeing them succeed which is obviously getting to the summit. But I always say, summiting is not the goal for us, the goal is to really change as many lives as possible.”

The team will head-up a drive-and-climb from South Africa through Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania on Monday and aim to reach the peak on Friday, July 18.

“With this trek we’d like to invite anyone and everyone who can hear this message on any kind of platform to say please go around your communities and let’s join this movement of doing good and making sure that lets together make every day a Mandela Day.”

Watch an interview with Sello Hatang, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation below.