- By Hilja Shikongo
Five young advocates are taking on a demanding two-week cycling journey from Windhoek to Swakopmund and back, covering a total of a 720 kilometre. The initiative aims to raise awareness around HIV prevention, equitable healthcare access and climate justice by combining public health advocacy with zero emissions travel.
Riding 500W solar-powered e-bikes, the team of three males and two females will stop over in several towns, including Okahandja, Karibib, Usakos and the Moon Landscape before reaching Swakopmund. At each stop, the riders are holding school and community engagements, focused on sexual and reproductive health, long-acting HIV treatment and prevention options as well as climate education.
Each evening includes storytelling and community mobilization events. The initiative is organized by the VIAWLA Foundation and builds on youth demands voiced at the 2023 Adolescence & HIV Workshop held in Lusaka, Zambia. At the workshop, young people from across the region called for the introduction of long-acting injectable antiretroviral treatment and prevention options and urged pharmaceutical companies to lower costs among others.
Lasarus Ndiilenga, founder of the VIAWLA Foundation and the lead organizer of the campaign, said the project is a direct response to the challenges facing young people living with or affected by HIV in Namibia. “This ride is a youth-led, climate-conscious response to barriers that continue to affect adolescents and young people.
“We are using zero carbon mobility not only as a symbol but as a strategy to combine health advocacy with environmental sustainability,” said Ndiilenga. One of the riders, speaking on the first day of the journey, said the campaign is about more than medicine.
“This is not just about medication. It’s about agency, dignity, and choice. We want our voices heard in both health and climate policy spaces,” the rider said.
