The Maiden Factor: Empowering girls through education

Sailing with them on the leg from Dakar, Senegal, to Cape Town, will be a young woman from the township of Kwa Mashu in Durban, South Africa, Vuyisile Jaca (24), and when they leave, they will take another young girl from a disadvantaged background, Nqobile Khuzwayo (19), with them on the journey.

For them this is the opportunity of a lifetime.

The Maiden, the boat skippered by Tracy Edwards MBE with the first all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989/1990, is currently on a world tour to raise funds for girls’ education. The Maiden Factor is raising awareness of the 130 million girls worldwide, who are currently not able to access an education, by fundraising and supporting community programmes around the world.

Whilst in South Africa, they will be raising funds for Marine Inspirations to send a young girl to the prestigious Lawhill Maritime Centre to complete secondary school whilst gaining a specialised maritime education.

Marine Inspirations is an organisation that has taken young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, many of them from South Africa, to Spain, and introduced them not only to sailing, but to the Super Yacht industry and the possibility of a career. Over the years, the Sail Africa Youth Development Foundation has been lucky enough to send 10 young people, four of them female, on their inspirational tour and witnessed first hand the impact this has had on these young lives.

Sail Africa runs a ‘Girls in Sailing’ program that encourages girls to sail, while also fostering life skills and education. This program was featured in World Sailing’s ‘Steering the Course’ in 2021 and contributed towards the attainment of the sustainable goals which saw the foundation win the World Sailing 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award the same year.

Vuyisile Jaca has been sailing with Sail Africa Youth Development Foundation since her school days back in 2015. When she first arrived, she could not swim, nor had she ever been on a boat. Today, through her association with Sail Africa, she has learned to swim, completed a swim instructors’ course and taken responsibility for ensuring all the young sailors at Sail Africa are competent in the water. She has a recreational diving qualification and works part-time in the summer as an underwater photographer for the local aquarium, has completed the gruelling Vasco Da Gama Ocean Race, earned her Day Skippers and is on her way to becoming a sailing instructor.

Vuyi says, “I am humbled to be chosen for this wonderful opportunity and I hope that this will inspire other young township girls to get involved in maritime activities.”

On the leg from Cape Town to Maputo, Mozambique, will be another young township girl. Nqobile Khuzwayo comes from an informal housing settlement, Mayville in Durban, South Africa. Nqobile began her sailing at Sail Africa in 2018 and was selected to attend Lawhill Maritime Academy on a bursary sponsored by Phil and Anne Wade. Phil is the founder of Marine Inspirations.

Nqobile, who has recently completed her Day Skippers, is the captain of the Lawhill sailing team. She said, “I am so grateful for this opportunity; it is my dream one day to work in the Super Yacht industry. Sailing with other women from around the world will not only improve my sailing skills but give me an opportunity to work alongside other inspiring women. I hope I can pass on what I have learned on my return.”

Find out more about The Maiden Factor here, and follow the journey on social media.

• • Twitter, https://twitter.com/maidenfactor
  • Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/themaidenfactor
  • Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/maidenfactor