Our Xhosa-Speaking Facebook Support group Team Asijiki has become a stalwart of the Sleekgeek Health Revolution – we all know and love seeing the team’s war cry of KUBOOO! across the Facebook groups. We are incredibly proud to announce that Team Asijiki has managed to achieve 100,000 active group members, and by way of celebrating this, we thought it would be nice to share the story of the group’s birth.
Sleekgeek runs a 30 Day REBOOT Challenge which challenges members to 30 continuous days of eating ‘Real Food’.
One community member, Alakhe Carol Gajana took the REBOOT Challenge in Feb 2015 and lost 23kgs initially on the program. She then opened a WhatsApp group of 19 family members and friends, educating them on the program.
In July 2015 Carol approached Elan, the founder of Sleekgeek and suggested a Xhosa-speaking Facebook Group to support others.
The new group was launched and after a year in July 2016 had reached 16,000 members.. THEN momentum picked up and 7 months later on 10 February passed 100,000 members and is growing daily.
When Carol lost her first 23kgs she used the Xhosa slogan ‘Andijiki’ meaning I’m not turning back!
She extended the concept to be community driven and within Sleekgeek ”TeamAsijiki” (The- We are not turning back Movement)
There are now at 100,000 members and Carol has lost 40kgs. Since there is no viable business model as yet Carol continues to work full-time and dedicates all her free time to this passion project.
She says “To us Black people whose tradition and culture is based on Carbs (starch, sugar, grain) it is not easy, ‘in moderation’ is not what we grow up knowing. Our meat and carbs are our daily life and comfort.
It didn’t make sense to me too, hence the patience to educate and educate some more, it is a Revolution, Eating clean is something new to our kind…is it easy to adapt? No. Is it doable? Ohhh yesss, and has many benefits!”
The community is predominantly female and members are achieving excellent results with their health and weight-loss.
The community follows the rules of a “Paleo” lifestyle and there are no products that one has to buy. Good healthy eating and exercise is encouraged.
Membership and the program is 100% free and open to anyone who can converse in Xhosa.
Sleekgeek Founder Elan Lohmann who left his corporate career 4 years ago to dedicate his life to help others improve their health is very proud of this project. “Asijiki is incredible to observe. The community members are engaged, highly spirited and are taking their lives back. It truly is a REVOLUTION and Sleekgeek is excited to be a part of it.”
A separate business entity “Team Asijiki PTY Ltd” was formed and Carol and Elan share a 50/50 joint partnership.
At a time in SA where racial and political tensions are high this is a real feel good story because people from various communities are supporting each other hand in hand to make SA a healthier place.
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