Our heart project "Khayelitsha Canoe Club"
- by Jana Meyer
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- 02 Jan, 2021
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We heard about the Khayelitsha Canoe Club close to Cape Town and what they want to achieve:
Besides creating a peaceful environment in the community, the Canoe Club works on keeping the surrounding nature and waters, and the animals that live in it, clean and well maintained.
A friend in the industry connected us and after a few discussions, our own project was born. It is very close to our hearts but especially for Frikkie, as paddling is his biggest passion.
Frikkie started canoeing at the age of 13, following in the footsteps of his older brother, Bennie, who was already a member of the South African National Canoeing Team at the time. Seven years later, Frikkie realised his dream of representing South Africa, too. On the domestic circuit, Bennie and Frikkie teamed up in a doubles partnership to win several major races, as well as in one year winning every South African doubles title from Sprints through to Marathons. On the international circuit, Frikkie achieved podium finishes in the prestigious Sella Descent in Spain; the Tour de Gudena in Denmark, as well as the Berlin Marathon. His first introduction to tourism also came through canoeing, as he worked as a river guide on the Orange River in South Africa, leading tour groups, in order to help him pay for his University Studies. As you can see, canoeing is simply in his family’s blood.
In 2015 we spent time with Siyanda, Akhona and Tsepo and worked around the project and defined how we can support those three in their mission. As the Canoe Club is based at crystal clear water and in a safe area of Khayelitsha, we decided to work on a paddle and walking combination. This was the best and most efficient way to show our guests the community on one side and make them experience it on the other side.
So our walking tour in the neighborhood was established. The neighborhood loves our guests and loves to engage with the internationals.
From the beginning we've always sent a local tour guide with the group to escort the guests while the locals educate the guests about their life and living in the community.
On our tour, guests normally visit a Kindergarten, a shop, a local café and a car wash to experience and learn about being an entrepreneur in a township environment. All of the linked business and people are part of the chain on being supported by the Canoe Club and do get a portion of the fee the guests pay for this experience.
Besides our tours the Canoe Club focuses on the youth and gets the teenager off the street and motivates them with sports. Teenager learn so much through sport – the important social behaviour, team work, friendship ... as Mandela once famously said:
"Sports have the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.“
Besides their time spent on sports and social activities, we of course still make sure that homework is done as well!
As Siyanda, Akhona and Tsepo got exposed to the tourism industry through us, they immediately saw the huge potential in growing that business. We are very proud to announce that all of them are now licensed tour guides in the Western Cape province. This was possible through all guests joining them and us in Khayelitsha.
This is one step in direction of developing this project and we are happy to keep you posted.
