Solidarity and fun (18 Oct)

Fun and fitness for Saartjie Baartman with CHIPs 

Walk Day 18

Today we enjoyed a fun walk with a serious message: To educate, empower, and bring hope to those affected by breast cancer. And to walk in solidary with the Saartjie Baartman Centre and Blocktober against gender-based violence. 

• We groaned against gravity.
• The youngsters with us leapt up and down past mountain rocks.
• We applauded the Cape Town Trail Marathon Runners as they passed us.
• We laughed.

🎥Click here for news of a new Saartjie fitness branch

announced by Ruben Coetzee, CHIPs coordinator. 

Over 80 walkers and one determined cyclist reached the Blockhouse.

CHIPs came along

The Sports Science Institute of South Africa’s Community Health Intervention Programmes (CHIPs) showed up in force, with OptiFit branches from Kuils River, Delft, Elsies River, Matroosfontein, Grassy Park, Silvertown, and Athlone. Together with Blocktober regulars, they took on the steep path from Rhodes Memorial to the Blockhouse.

• What is CHIPs? CHIPs is a community upliftment initiative of SSISA that promotes health through age-appropriate, supervised physical activity and supportive group culture.

🎥Click here for the trail runner cheer 

we gave at the Blockhouse for participants on the Cape Town Trail Marathon Run.

CHIPs club members gathering at Rhodes Memorial before the climb, with the Blockhouse small in the distance. 

Key links:

• Next walking day: 19 October 8am from Vredehoek.
• Click here for information about future walks.
• Read other blogs in the series
• Please donate - Saartjie (SBC) needs about R11 000 per day in October!

Fresh Start entrepreneurs (17 Oct)

Listen and donate for Saartjie Baartman Entrepreneurship 

Walk Day 17

As told to Lala Steyn by and with the permission of women from the Saartjie Baartman Centre

On one of our recent walks, a group of women from the Saartjie Baartman Centre explained their business idea. 

Listen to the audio below (no pictures or names are given to protect the women). Hear about "Fresh Start", a detergent business they are beginning. They have already identified suppliers of the ingredients and how to make their products. They will pilot their products at the Saartjie Baartman Centre and once they have learnt lessons will sell to their first markets, being Shelters in Cape Town.

To be able to buy the ingredients they are making pretty walking tops which they will sell in November at various events during the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children. They want to try to get going with their own seed capital.

Listen to women entrepreneurs describe their "Fresh Start": business ideas

Walking clothes made by Saartjie Baartman entrepreneurs

Quick donate: Ready to help now? Give via BackaBuddy (tip can be set to R0 so you can increase your donation).

Read other blogs in the series

October Walk Details in Cape Town

• Next walking day: 18 October 8am join the Sport Science Institute's CHIP's breast cancer awareness walk and Saartjie Baartman's team.
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Duration: 2 hrs., 4km (short but steep)
• Rhodes Memorial to Blockhouse and back. Click this PIN for starting point.
• Click here to join future walks.  
• Record your walk, run, cycle or swim in support of Blocktober on Strava.

Blooming, Walking (16 Oct)

Fynbos path to the Blockhouse

By Janet Purcell, Blocktober walker

Tuesday afternoon saw a group of eight Blocktoberites walking to the King’s Blockhouse, me dawdling at the back determined to photograph every flowering thing I saw. This is a record of the way up: an hour of distraction by every new beauty, and patient immersion in tiny details, trying to capture the splendor of late afternoon, and appreciative of the company of Yuo Cheng, a visitor from China, who hung out at the back with me. From Paterson’s Curse to pink Keurbooms to fading Watsonias, Carpobrotus, Erica's, Pelargoniums, Spanish Broom, Bearded Proteas and many more. Best watched on full screen, imagining you are there.

Note that three of these flowering plants, while attractive, are seriously invasive:

• Blue Periwinkle (Vinca Major).
• Paterson's Curse (Echium plantagineum) about which Brian du Preez recently posted.
• Spanish Broom (Spartium junceum).

Read other blogs in the series

October Walk Details in Cape Town

• Next walking day: 17 October 6am.
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Duration: 2 / 2.5hrs, 7.5km
• Jeep Track Route: From Vredehoek (mountain end of Chelmsford Rd), to Blockhouse and back. Click this PIN for starting point.
• Click here to join future walks.  
• Record your walk, run, cycle or swim in support of Blocktober on Strava.

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Kindness begets kindness (15 Oct)

Blocktober champion Dixon Windross

By Rosalie Kingwill, researcher and Blocktober walker 

Dixon sweeping Blocktober walkers up the slopes of Devil's Peak

Watching 32-year-old Dixon Windross calmly walking and chatting with other walkers on a few of my Blocktober walks I was moved to find out more about his involvement with Blocktober after Lala told me he had literally participated on the Blocktober walks (and sometimes runs) every single day so far, and intended to keep that up to the end of the October challenge.

I was already filled with awe that Lala walks every single day, and to discover a young man doing this piqued my curiosity. He blends seamlessly and serenely among the predominantly older and female walkers and seems to be at ease with himself and the world. I already knew from previous chats that he is Malawian by birth and upbringing but now lives permanently in Cape Town. I also knew his first love is cycling, so why is he walking? So, I sat down in his lounge with him after he agreed to an informal interview.

Dixon was raised in Blantyre with kinship links to a rural village in Chewu district between Lilongwe and Blantyre, where he experienced urban and agrarian life.  While visiting his uncle and aunt in Cape Town in mid-2017 he landed a job as a gardener and soon became known as a reliable and responsible worker and one thing led to another, where he began working for a family in Gardens.

The joys of cycling

His dependability and integrity soon made him an indispensable part of the various family enterprises, but the life-changer was when his boss introduced him to the joys of cycling in the mountains around the City Bowl. He had never been interested in cycling but this opened him up to a whole new world.  He was fully kitted out and soon became acquainted with all the cycle routes in Cape Town. His journeys included hair-raising stints flying down the steep descents of many Cape Town roads.  With the encouragement of his employer, he entered the Cape Town Argus cycle tours, of which he has completed four.

As a nature lover, his first love is cycling on the mountain, attracted by the beauty and serenity of the natural environment on his doorstep. By then his employer had organised a rental for him in Vredehoek where he and his sister still live in a townhouse flat, with a view of the harbour. He now has permanent residence status in South Africa.

Cycling buddies Jean and Dixon

Then came Blocktober. In 2021 while cycling on the upper reaches of the mountain he had a flat tyre and was assisted by Dawie and Jean who were cycling the Blocktober challenge. They became firm friends and Blocktober became an annual part of his life. The awareness of gender-based violence and the group cycles (or walks and runs) for a common social purpose stirred his innate compassion, gentleness and kindness, features you pick up soon after meeting him. I remarked how easily he fits in with the other walkers (often the only male and younger person) and wondered if this was a family trait. He said his mother also fits in anywhere and with anyone. He added that he enjoys talking to older people as they have the ‘wisdom of experience’ to give him advice!

A very serious crash on his bike resulted in hospitalisation, and he was assisted by Dawie and Jean, further strengthening their bonds. His bike began to fall to pieces and after numerous attempts to fix it after various brushes with the pavement, he sold it and is saving for another. Hence, this year he is joining Blocktober on foot. But I was thrilled to spot him smiling happily last evening cycling up to the Blockhouse with Dawie on Lala’s bike!

For Dixon, the life-changing freedom he experienced on that gifted bicycle has made him yearn for work that gives him some leisure time to continue exploring the mountains and surrounds, so with the help of his now former employer, he has started a cleaning company called Mother City Cleaners (link) and employs two permanent and 13 hourly workers, while he does the management and administration; and is training up someone to help with that side, surviving a serious brush with a trusted helper who defrauded him.

 The lessons?

Firstly, was Dixon’s opening up to the wider world of exploration a result of serendipity, chance or luck? Not in my view! It has been a pure outcome of his shining integrity and willingness to work humbly with loyalty, perseverance and commitment. This instils great confidence and inspiration in the people in his life, work and leisure. But clearly the ongoing dedicated support and generosity of his employer and Blocktober riders are a lesson-within-a-lesson. With the right people, kindness begets kindness.

In his own words: “What I discovered is sometimes people just rush for the money, and do not build relationships first. Relationships are more important!” He repeated the fruits of relationship-building rather than grabbing money for consumption frequently during our chat.

Secondly, Blocktober is a lesson in meeting people from diverse backgrounds and motivations, people who have endured all sort of challenges and abuse and survived, and the lucky ones who have not been abused, all are there to provide networks of support. Many of the walkers are an inspiration to others. Dixon is an inspiration to me and many others! 

Dixon and his seedlings

Dixon’s five little apple tree seedlings surrounded by other thriving pot plants in his lounge (including a green bean plant) are a symbol of his endurance and attentiveness: he planted five apple pips and they are miraculous little trees in the making, which he wants to gift to others when they have grown.

Read other blogs in the series

October Walk Details in Cape Town

• Next Date: 16 October 6 pm
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Duration: 2 / 2.5hrs, 7.5km
• Tabelberg Rd route to Blockhouse: Click this PIN for starting point.
• Click here to join future walks.  
• Record your walk, run, cycle or swim in support of Blocktober on Strava.

It's Personal (14 Oct)

It's Personal

By Lala Steyn, walking 31 days to the Blockhouse in October

On one of my daily walks up to the Blockhouse against gender based violence, this month, someone asked me why I was walking everyday of October to the Blockhouse. I told her one of my stories.  

Sunset over Cape Town from the Blockhouse 

Back in the late 1980s I was a young student and an anti-apartheid activist. I rented a home on a farm outside Kylemore with my partner. As he was to be away for a few nights, and it wasn't safe for a woman to stay there on her own, I asked one of my United Democratic Front (UDF) comrades to come and sleep over until my partner was back. I thought this would make me safer.

The first night he went out and came home drunk. He sexually assaulted me but I got away. I recall the shock as he was suddenly groping at my body and forcing me into the wall. Then I recall bright lights and flowing water. What happened between the wall and the water is what I put together after being helped by a friend, Jean du Plessis, the co-founder of Blocktober. 

When I escaped the grasp of "my comrade" I ran in the dark to a small holding about a kilometre away where Jean was living. He drove me back home and on our arrival we found that all the lights of the house were on, and the geyser had bursted, with water everywhere. My assailant was lying drunk on the ground. We dragged him into a room, locked the door and Jean slept that night in front of the door. 

In the morning when I told the perpetrator what he had done, he said nothing. I drove him away to his house. I didn't report him. I took no action to confront him. After all, was the struggle not more important than my body? I avoided him and ensured I saw him as little as possible. I pushed this to the back of my mind and got on with life.   

As the years rolled by I came to acknowledge this as the source of my fear of being alone, of dark lonely spaces, and of my acute antennae to pick up potential (maybe imagined) dangerous situations. In later years when I asked various people why I couldn't remember the time between the initial shock of being sexually assaulted and the return to my home, they all said that this is a common response to trauma. 

Unfortunately this was not the first or last time I would experience such danger.  We all know that gender based violence is a scourge on our humanity. One in three women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. 146 sexual offence cases are reported on average daily in SA, most of these being rape. 

There is hope as we can all act to change this:

• We can change our behaviour and teach our children.
• We can share our stories.
• We can call out those who talk and act in ways that can lead to gender based violence. 
• We can support survivors of GBV.
• We can walk together for "our Saartjies" throughout October. 
• We can donate to empower the survivors of GBV to build their economic independence. Click Donate via BackaBuddy (note: the BackaBuddy tip can be set to R0). 

Walking as therapeutic connection (with thanks to Christine le Roux for the video)

Why not read the blogs you have missed?

October Walk Details in Cape Town

• Next Date: 15 October 15.30 pm
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Duration: 2 / 2.5hrs, 7.5km
• Tabelberg Rd route to Blockhouse: Click this PIN for starting point.
• Click here to join future walks.  
• Record your walk, run, cycle or swim in support of Blocktober on Strava.

Breast cancer and GBV solidarity hike (13 Oct)

Together we walk, Together we fight: Join us for the breast cancer and GBV solidarity hike on 18th October

By Ruben Coetzee, Sports Science Institute, CHIPS Coordinator

Join us on Saturday, 18 October at Rhodes Memorial for a Breast Cancer and Saartjie Baartman / Blocktober Solidarity Hike. Come to https://maps.app.goo.gl/veT8o3AqhQut2tpt5

"Think Pink, Act Strong: Breast cancer awareness starts with you."

This year's CHIP's breast cancer awareness will join forces with Saartjie Baartman and Blocktober 

Breast Cancer October and CHIPs

The Community Health Intervention Programme (CHIP) is a dedicated community upliftment initiative by SSISA that focuses on promoting health through age-appropriate physical activity. With programs like OptiFit Outreach and HealthNutz, CHIP`s is scientifically designed and community-led, aiming to build healthier, more cohesive communities. For over 28 years, these initiatives have demonstrated how a positive attitude can transform lives, embodying the motto, "Changing your attitude changes your life." CHIP`s is committed to fostering a culture of wellness, empowerment, and lasting community impact through active engagement and health education.

Every October, our hearts beat a little faster with purpose and hope as we shine a spotlight on Breast Cancer awareness. For those of us involved with the Community Health Intervention Programme (CHIPs), this month is more than just a campaign—it's a heartfelt reminder of the resilience, courage, and unity that define our community.

Our journey is deeply personal. We carry the stories of members who are survivors, those who are in remission, and sadly, members we've lost along the way. Each story fuels our passion, reminding us that every step we take in awareness, every conversation we spark, and every community event we hold is a tribute to their strength and memory.

This year, our CHIP`s Outreach branches—spanning Kuils River, Delft, Elsies River, Matroosfontein, Grassy Park, Silvertown, and Athlone—are once again organizing impactful activities. From engaging awareness talks to community walks and weekly exercise programs, our goal remains unwavering: to educate, empower, and bring hope to those affected by breast cancer.

Breast cancer solidary walk with Saartjie Baartman and Blocktober

But this October, we’re taking our efforts a step further. On Saturday, October 18th, at 8 am, we invite everyone to join us for a Breast Cancer and GBV Solidarity Hike from Rhodes Memorial to the Block House. Come to this startign point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/veT8o3AqhQut2tpt5. This isn’t just a walk—it's a powerful act of unity, a symbol of our collective strength, and a stand against cancer and GBV.

And in the spirit of solidarity, this year’s hike is in collaboration with the Blocktober campaign, which aims to raise awareness and funds for the Saartjie Baartman Center for Women and Children, in support of survivors of gender-based violence. It’s a reminder that our fight against injustice and health disparities is intertwined, and together, we can make a difference. We will be joined on this walk by walkers from Saartjie Baartman and Blocktober.

Saartjie Baartman, CHIP`s, and Blocktober representatives meet to collaborate

Unite in hope

Whether you’re walking for breast cancer awareness or standing in support of victims of gender-based violence, your participation matters. Your steps, your voice, your presence—these are the catalysts for change.

Let’s unite in hope, in strength, and in love. Together, we can transform awareness into action and turn compassion into tangible support. Join us on October 18th—because when we walk together, we walk towards a healthier, safer, and more compassionate future.

Together We Walk, Together We Fight. Let’s make every step count.

Read other blogs in the series

October Walk Details in Cape Town

• Date: 14 October 16.30 pm
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Duration: 2 / 2.5hrs, 7.5km
• Tabelberg Rd route to Blockhouse: Click this PIN for starting point.
• Click here to join future walks.
• Record your walk, run, cycle or swim in support of Blocktober on Strava.

Your Body. Your Story. Your Power (12 Oct)

Your body. Your story. Your power.

By Kim Simpson, Marie Stopes South Africa, Marketing, Brand Development & Fundraising Lead

Solidarity walks to the Blockhouse with survivors of GBV turn their backs for protection

Standing Together This Blocktober for Women’s Safety and Choice

October is Blocktober — a month that calls us to stand shoulder-to-shoulder against gender-based violence (GBV). Communities are blocking the silence, the stigma, and the cycle of violence that continues to harm women and girls.

At Marie Stopes South Africa, we believe this movement is about more than protest it’s about power.
The power to choose. The power to heal. The power to live freely and without fear.

That’s why this Blocktober, we’re joining hands with the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children, a sanctuary for survivors rebuilding their lives with courage, dignity, and hope. Together, we’re saying loud and clear:

Every woman deserves safety, respect, and control over her body.

The canons below the Blockhouse

Reproductive Health Is a Human Right

Reproductive health isn’t just about clinics or contraception it’s about freedom.
Freedom to make informed choices. Freedom to access care without judgment. Freedom to decide what’s right for you.

When women can access safe, confidential services from contraception and pregnancy care to safe abortion and STI testing they are better able to protect themselves and their futures.

At Marie Stopes, we see reproductive care as an act of self-love. It’s not just medical; it’s emotional, personal, and deeply empowering.

Because when a woman chooses care, she’s choosing herself. 

The Connection Between GBV and Reproductive Health

GBV isn’t always visible. It hides in silence, in control, in fear.
It’s the partner who decides for you. The shame that keeps you from asking for help. The systems that fail to protect.

The impact of GBV reaches into every aspect of a woman’s health her physical safety, her emotional well-being, her right to reproductive freedom.

That’s why Marie Stopes and the Saartjie Baartman Centre stand united this Blocktober:
To remind survivors that they are not alone.
To offer safe spaces for healing.
To turn pain into power — one story at a time.

Healing begins with community - walking together to the Blockhouse

Healing Begins With Community

Healing isn’t a straight line. Sometimes it’s a cry. Sometimes it’s laughter after a long time of silence. Sometimes it’s walking into a clinic and saying, “I’m ready to take care of me.”

That’s what this Blocktober is about coming together to protect, heal, and empower.

Join us by:
Talking openly about consent and healthy love.
Supporting survivors with compassion, not judgment.
Sharing resources like the Saartjie Baartman Centre’s helpline.
Encouraging women to access safe, confidential reproductive care at Marie Stopes.

Because when we stand together, we break the cycle.

You Are Not Alone

If you or someone you know needs help, reach out.
Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women & Children — www.saartjiebaartmancentre.org.za
Marie Stopes South Africa — www.mariestopes.org.za

Together, we create a South Africa where every woman can live free from violence — and full of choice.

 Your body. Your story. Your power.
This Blocktober, let’s raise our voices, hold each other up, and keep building a future where love heals louder than violence.

Read other blogs in the series

October Walk Details in Cape Town

Next walking week: 13 to 19 October

• Monday 13th & Tuesday 14th: 16.30pm from Vredehoek
• Wednesday 15th: 15.30pm from Vredehoek
• Thursday 16th & Friday 17th: 6am from Vredehoek
• Saturday 18th: 8am from Rhodes Memorial
• Sunday 19th: 8am from Vredehoek
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Duration: 2 / 2.5hrs, 7.5km
• Jeep Track Route: For all Days expect Saturday 18th October - From Vredehoek (mountain end of Chelmsford Rd), to Blockhouse and back. Click this PIN for starting point.
• Click here to join future walks.  
• Record your walk, run, cycle or swim in support of Blocktober on Strava.