April 16, 2004
By Chandrea Gerber
MILLIONS of South Africans would love to take 10 days off to go on a road trip. But Victor Bongi Sibeko, a sports enthusiast, is doing it with a difference by taking part in a cycle tour to recruit new blood donors.
The Pick 'n Pay National Blood Awareness Cycle Tour, from Joburg to Bloemfontein, is the main activity during the April blood awareness month. Taking place just after the Easter holidays when blood usage is critical, it encourages people to donate much needed blood.
The Gauteng team consists of four cyclists, with an interesting dimension to it this year. For the first time, the Gauteng team can boast a black participant, Sibeko, who is participating after being inspired when helped find sponsorship for the event in 1998. "I am 44 years old, but ever young, and can outrun a 16 year old. I love sports. I am a fanatic. I am also committed to the community. If I am not running the comrades, I am assisting in the medical tent."
The team left from Pick 'n Pay Fourways on Friday 16 April at 10am and will converge in Bloemfontein on Sunday 25 April.
The cycle tour consists of 30 riders from around South Africa, who make up six national teams from Gauteng, Kimberley, Pretoria, Nelspruit, Durban and the Cape. These teams ride from their region, stopping off at designated areas including shopping centres, schools, clinics, children's homes and nursing homes - in a safe blood campaign to raise awareness about the importance of donating safe blood, and encourage people to donate at the same time. The tour encourages people to start taking a more profound approach to wellness and lifestyle habits, which maximises the 'safety' of the blood.
"People often think 'why must I donate blood?' Until it hits home. Our objective is to create this awareness," says Mercia van der Westhuizen, head of communications for the South African National Blood Service (SANBC).
The reason the SANBS use cyclists to drive this message home, says van der Westhuizen, is that each participant has a testimony to blood services - either being donors or recipients of blood themselves, and most teams have at least one member who has had an organ transplant. Individuals like the cyclists, with their own stories to tell, are best equipped to communicate this vital message to the public.
Sibeko is a donor, and reiterates how important blood donation is. "People need to give blood - safe blood, and in doing this, many people tend to correct their lifestyles in the process." The blood donor forms contain complex questions that examine the donor's way of life, so as to ensure that their blood is safe. This is challenging people's lifestyle, and making people think about their conceptions of what it means to have safe blood. "HIV is hitting us hard in South Africa, and if we try and avoid people getting AIDS, I think we've done something great."
Sibeko believes in the often-heard maxim 'Prevention is better than cure'- "Condoms alone wont help - many things can go wrong. What is needed is a lifestyle change. I think this is the great challenge."
So while the main focus of the tour is to encourage people to come aboard and donate safe blood, and by doing this save a life, it also looks at urging people to correct their lifestyles. "The tour in effect will gain more than just blood. It will raise awareness, as well as organ and bone marrow donors," says Sibeko.
The cycle tour's theme this year is 'Join the cycle of life'. The tour will continue through the country for 10 days, and will end in Bloemfontein, where all 30 cyclists will converge and ride through the town.
The cycle tour is primarily funded through sponsorships, and as awareness is the main objective, the tour will spread the message of safe blood donation while gaining blood donations as a positive result of that awareness. The tour promotes the objective of saving lives by focusing on the need for safe blood.
Blood is normally stored for two to three months, and with the demands for blood during the Easter holiday period, and the difficulties of collecting blood during the winter months, blood collected on this tour will help to cope with the demands later in the year, which increase during the festive season.
The public can follow the cyclists' progress and get updated information on the cycle tour daily on the website.
For more information on how or where to donate blood, go to the SANBS website or the WPBTS website.
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