Melbourne to Adelaide in a school dress for charity: looking back

This time last year, I undertook a huge challenge that I’d never even dreamt of before, let alone attempted: I rode my bicycle from Melbourne to Adelaide, wearing a school dress for the charity One Girl’sOne Girl’s (One Girl Australia, 2022): One Girl — Educating Girls to Change The WorldOne Girl At One Girl, we break down the barriers that girls face in accessing an education. We do this by running girl-led programs in Sierra Leone and Uganda to drive positive change for girls and their … 2019 Do It In A Dress campaign, raising money for the education of girls in Africa.

The charity runs this campaign every year as their major fundraiser, and the idea is that participants come up with fun and/or challenging activities whilst wearing a school uniform dress (in honour of many African school-aged girls who can’t) and their respective friends and family sponsor them and donate to the overall cause. I had the idea in February 2019 to do something a bit hard, a bit different, and came up with Bike It In A Dress, my effort towards the campaign. In June, I became an official Ambassador for the One Girl’s team, and set out planning and training for the big ride.

I raised $3,482.93 for the charity, who collectively raised about half a million dollars to help educate girls. It was so rewarding, knowing that I’d personally helped 11 girls go to school for the year, as well as being a fantastic physical and mental challenge that a year later, I’m still buzzing about.