Jennilee September got involved with Qhubeka after curiosity drew her to a workshop hosted by the charity in March.
September, who currently resides in Smartie Town in the Paarl area, said she’d first heard of the workshop through her community.
“They told me about the ladies who were looking for others to help build bicycles. I thought I would go and see if it was something I was interested in,” she said.
The 32-year-old was soon enchanted by all the intimate details and now works under the guidance of master mechanic Beverley Roode as the supervisor at the Nederburg-based facility.
Beverley Roode (third from the left) and Jennilee September (third from right) are two of the women that are part of the Qhubeka bicycle assembly plant in Neberburg. Photo: Keli van der Weijde Photography
“I help build the bicycles but my main purpose is to make sure everything is correct and running smoothly,” said the softly spoken woman.
“Before I got here I didn’t know how to build a bike and I didn’t know what was important on them, so I’ve really learnt a lot.”
She added the continuous learning was one of the best parts of her job and she appreciated the fact that she could now share her knowledge with her community.
“Before I became involved with Qhubeka, bicycles were always just a normal thing, but now it’s something that’s very important to me.
“Where there isn’t transport I can inspire adults and children to get a bike, show them what is important and what needs to be fixed. There’s a lot that I can do now.”
Having received a bike from Qhubeka herself, September said besides the obvious benefit of getting her from point A to B there was the added bonus of keeping fit.
“Ever since I was small, I’ve never had my own bike. Now every time I want to go somewhere I can just get on my bike and ride, I don’t have to walk or pay for transport.”
Roode spoke of when she’d first met September at the workshop and said she’d seen qualities that reminded her of herself when she first started in the field.
“Jennilee stepped forward and asked to actually try it and I could see she was someone who could accept the bicycle and work with it.”
Roode explained that those who had been selected were sent on a two-week training course to learn how to assemble Qhubeka bikes and, from those, four were selected.
“Since then we’ve been going from strength to strength with them,” she said of September, Tammy Letoli, Feroska Sitter and Georgina Simpson.
Despite having encountered some scepticism about her talent, Roode was adamant that cycling did not have to be gender specific.
“Bicycles and cycling is a passion and anyone can do it. Nothing in the world is restricted to male or female.”
