From her Wānaka kitchen window, So They Can charity founder Cassandra Treadwell often wondered what it would be like to stand atop mountains Black Peak and Mt Gold that command her daily view.
So when it came time for her annual 1HumanRace fundraiser, she knew the perfect challenge – summiting them both in five days.
“During Covid when everything shut down, we came up with the concept asking people to walk or run 85 kilometres to support the 85 percent of girls in Baringo, Kenya, who suffer cutting and child marriage before 13,” explains Cass, 52, adding she’s delighted since its launch that number has dropped from 85 to 60 percent of girls.
But this year, climbing 2289 metres to the top of Black Peak and 1311 metres to Mt Gold was much harder than anticipated.
Cass explains, “We went slightly off course through the wrong valley. We ended up crawling on all fours on scree slopes, only to find ourselves on the edge of a cliff. It was so steep that if you fell, it would be all over!”
But thinking of the vulnerable girls she was doing it for encouraged Cass every step of the way.
“We’re talking about 65-year-old men paying in goats to marry nine-year-old girls, who become breeding machines,” she shares sombrely. “Their future is horrendous.”
Back to where it all began in 2009, Cass remembers being a busy mother-of-four. Her youngest was just six months old, and she was working as a medical lawyer. That’s when she felt compelled to help girls in Africa.
“I didn’t even feel it was a choice,” says Cass. She fell in love with Africa while backpacking there in her twenties. “I just wanted to do something to help and it morphed into this.”
That year, she took the first $30,000 to Africa, which she raised by hosting charity dinner parties. Visiting numerous Internally Displaced Persons Camps overflowing with thousands in desperate need of aid, the refugees told Cass what they wanted most was education for their children.
“We have now developed and partnered with 52 schools across Kenya and Tanzania for 49,500 children,” she tells. “I still don’t even really stop and think about that because there’s so much more to do.”
But so many amazing stories remind Cass just how life-changing the work is.
Like Moureen from Baringo, who has been supported by So They Can since she ran away from home, her nine siblings and a life of poverty tending goats by herself all day at just six years old.
Cass recounts how Moureen heard about a So They Can rescue school. She ran 14 hours alone through the night to find the chief of a nearby town and beg them to take her to the school.
“Now she’s about to finish her teaching degree,” says Cass proudly.
“I asked her last year what she would do differently if she were me. She said she’d ensure more girls like me are supported to the end of secondary school. We support them through primary school and support feeder secondary schools, but it’s not enough. When they go home in summer, people will still cut and sell them,” says Cass. She adds as a result, 33 girls have now become part of an Ambassadors of Hope programme where they’ll have sponsorship to the end of high school.
Being “cut” refers to female genital mutilation, removing part or all of the external female genital organs. Some tribes in Africa practice the procedure before selling girls into marriage.
It’s a horrifying concept, but Cass refuses to shy away from knowing how desperately these girls need the world to hear their stories and help.
Another youngster she’ll never forget is 14-year-old Chep, who escaped her marriage, but couldn’t bring her children with her.
“We found out where her babies were and reconnected her with them at boarding school,” says Cass. “I’ll always remember her asking me, ‘Please tell everyone back home to be our voices. No one hears us here. We are just the property of our fathers and brothers.’
“I can dwell on the horror or use it to create beauty where people want to be a part of it and help.”
Cass wishes everyone could understand how much she gets out of this. Anyone who wants to engage with charities can reap the same benefits, as well.
“I want to change the concept of charity from the idea of the great white saviour. It should be the reality of what I’ve experienced, how much you personally get out of it,” she says.
“It’s a genuine partnership. The girls teach us how to live well and enrich our lives, reminding us what’s important: community, time, and being present and grateful.”
To find out more or to donate, visit sotheycan.org/donate
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
