Change A Life South Africa

South Africa > Change A Life

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Computershare launched Change A Life in South Africa in 2008 to help combat the scourge of crime and to strive for a hopeful future for all South Africans
For 10 years from 2008 to 2017, Computershare raised funds for the Mike Thomson Change A Life Trust, set up to help combat crime following the tragic murder of senior Computershare manager Mike Thomson in September 2007.

 Media coverage
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  • Featured
    19 FEB 2018

    The old and new triumph at the 2018 Dusi
  • Featured
    14 FEB 2018

    New Stott & Nkhoesa combo could surprise at Dusi
  • Featured
    06 FEB 2018

    U23 mens Dusi showdown set for fitting end
  • Featured
    05 FEB 2018

    Dusi Under-23 will be hotly contested
  • Featured
    05 FEB 2018

    Dusi U23 will be hotly contested
  • Featured
    30 JAN 2018

    Khwela and Ntondini throw their names into the Du...
  • Featured
    20 NOV 2017

    A paddler with a will to win
  • Featured
    02 NOV 2017

    CAL Academy targets Ozzie Gladwin as vital training
  • Featured
    31 OCT 2017

    All eyes are on Sthembiso Masango, the 29-year-ol...
  • Featured
    03 OCT 2017

    Enabling KwaZulu Natal's raw talent

 Our beneficiaries
Martin Dreyer Change A Life Academy
In October 2008, seven times Dusi champion and South Africa’s multi-sport king, Martin Dreyer, launched the Martin Dreyer Change A Life Academy to prepare at least ten underprivileged youngsters from the Valley of a Thousand Hills, to become leaders in the Dusi Canoe Challenge. After four short months of training his goal was exceeded with 11 of his protégés romping home in the top 50, two of them in the top ten. The cross-country running league was launched in 2010 to extend the academy’s reach into a broader community and encourage hundreds of local school children to aspire to greater heights.

In addition to weekly food parcels which provide much needed support for their families, top performers have earned enough from their sporting achievements to build proper homes in the valley and many participants have secured employment (many as coaches) as a direct result of skills gained at the academy.


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Change A Life Karate-do
Change A Life Karate-do uses an established Dojo karate facility, which was originally set up by murdered Computershare manager Mike Thomson and his brother Allan, to make a difference to the lives of under-privileged teenagers north of Johannesburg. The programme aims to inspire these children to grow in confidence and become well-balanced, productive members of society through the discipline and power of karate-do.

The programme started in 2010 with 15 students, aged between 11 and 20, who were recruited through church representatives in the informal community of Drummond. Despite being desperately poor, with few clothes and often little food to sustain them, the 15 students all passed their first official grading in August 2010 full of pride for what they had achieved.
Since then, the programme has grown to a core group of about 30 young people and expanded its reach to Cosmo City. The programme achieved a significant milestone in 2016 when its first student qualified for a black belt.
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Nemato Change A Life
The Nelson Mandela Township (Nemato) Rowing Club was established in 2005 to teach township youths to swim and row in the nearby Kowie River. Its initial focus was to use sport as a vehicle of empowerment and it soon began recording significant achievements, not only in competitive events where the rowers demonstrated their ability to compete at the highest levels of sport in South Africa, but also in the broader empowerment of its participants.

In 2010, the club expanded its development programme to include other sporting codes and daily homework classes for its athletes, with a strong focus on basic mathematics, language skills and computer literacy. A feeding scheme was also established to cater for the nutritional needs of participants. The empowerment programme has had a significant impact on local youngsters, opening up opportunities that previously would have been no more than a dream.

Nemato Change A Life has focused on empowering its members either through homework classes which have grown in numbers to 65 permanent members and career development for older members, or management of the club to broaden responsibility and ownership. There are also opportunities for members to complete coaching courses in rowing, gymnastics and fencing; and to gain their skipper’s and driver’s licenses. Twenty members are active in the President’s Award: the first five received their bronze medals in 2011 and in 2012 two received silver medals and a further five received their bronze medals in September, with some accumulating hours for their gold status.
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South African cycle tour

​Since 2008, Change A Life’s primary fundraiser in South Africa was the annual cycle tour​. Computershare matched funds raised from cyclist entry fees. In 2017, for the sixth consecutive year, 100% of the cyclists' entry fees and the matched funds were channelled directly into the recipient projects, as all costs of the cycle tour were funded by sponsorships.   ​

630 cyclists
4630 kilometres cycled
35 million rand raised

 Our previous cycling challenges

  • 2017

    70 participants, 500 kms travelled, approx R3 million raised

  • 2016

    Wonderland Tour, Mauritius
    70 participants, 500 kilometres cycled, R3 million raised

  • 2015

    Nyami Nyami tour, Zambezi River Valley
    70 participants, 510km cycled, approx R3 million raised

  • 2014

    Masquerade tour, Western Cape
    62 participants, 600km cycled, approx R3 million raised

  • 2013

    Nguni tour
    72 participants, 570km cycled, approx R3 million raised

  • 2012

    High Five tour
    75 participants, 550km cycled, approx R3 million raised

  • 2011

    Wild West tour, Namib Desert
    70 participants, 539km cycled, approx R3 million raised

  • 2010

    Beat of Africa tour, Malawi
    70 participants, 520km cycled, approx R3 million raised

  • 2009

    Mystery Tour, Orange Free State, Northern Cape and Lesotho
    60 participants, 390km cycled, approx R3 million raised

  • 2008

    Inaugural tour, Zambezi River
    81 participants, 450km cycled, R2.3 million raised