Founder of the Tri-Biking Adventure project, Rodney Heathcote, with his wife Frances, son Byron
and Daughter Nicole

My name is Rodney Heathcote and I have worked with young people for the past 25 years. I started in a non-profit organisation called Youth For Christ where for 15 years I worked with troubled & disadvantaged teenagers from Children’s homes & Places of Safety in the Durban area.

I was also involved in recruiting & training volunteers to assist me in these institutions. I was then employed as a Youth counsellor at Brettonwood High School in Durban for 9 years.

At the school I was responsible for counselling teenagers in all grades, teaching life skills & career guidance, & overseeing the activities of the Interact Club.

This is a division within Rotary where young people are encouraged to serve in their community by being involved in local projects. I have recently resigned from Brettonwood High School in order to be full time involved in running Tri-Biking Adventure - a non-profit organisation that I started 4 years ago.

I have been married to Frances for 19 years & we have 2 children – Byron (17 yrs) & Nicole (14 yrs)

The bike project has only occurred once a year as demo bikes are sponsored for a period of 2 weeks & then need to be returned to their respective suppliers & companies. In order to organise more than 1 bike programme per year I needed to purchase my own equipment & motorcycles.

Four years ago, in order to accomplish this, I started Tri-Biking Adventure which is a fully registered Non-Profit Organization. It aims to uplift teenagers by giving them a sense of self-worth through it’s bike programme that teaches important life skills.
 

The main aim is within one year to have grown Tri-Biking Adventure to the extent that the organisation will be in a position financially to enable it to fund the running costs of motorbike tours in Schools, Children’s Homes & poorer communities.