new sports outreach starts in xolanaledi

i am feeling a little frustrated at the moment as my laptop has had a big breakdown so i am having to use other computers to post on the blog and uploading photos, even a simple task like completing our village of hope internet banking is providing difficult as i don't want to sync my cell phone with devices that i'm not going to be using in the future, however that said i have found a way of posting this blog and i am so encouraged about the story that i am prepared to work around my technical challenges!

we have been so busy over the last few weeks, which you will have read about in our august newsletter and even today we are wanting to share about the new landscaping that is taking place around the entrance to the project as well as another birthday party, the end of which is still taking place as i write this (i can hear the music to the 'pass the parcel' as i type), however the photos and stories around those items will have to wait for another day as i am wanting to update you all on the wonderful news about our new sports outreach club which started today.

our four sports mentors full equipped to run
 their new club

as you will be aware we are having a huge impact on over 250 children each week, those are the 9-15 year olds who attend our older club, there are hundreds of little ones, aged two to eight who have been ably entertained by boniface who looks after those children, with our bible based sports outreach and lifeskills programme. the main area of growth over the last year has been with our local 'sports mentors'/'peer to peer educators' who we have developed to assist and even run some of the more established groups.

the mentors sharing the lifeskill and bible story to
over 20 new boys who joined them at the new club

today was a real testimony to how well the new sports mentors are doing as i challenged them to seek a new area where they could run their own club, with our full backing and support (both physically with the sports equipment and spiritually with our continued mentoring programme towards them), so it was with great joy that i dropped off four of the mentors to an open piece of ground, equipped with their bible cards, footballs, training bibs and cones.

the sight of over 20 children joining the guys for the training session, which they led from start to finish, warm up, drills, lifeskill and bible story, was amazing and i must thank them for their dedication to see the very programme which has bought them to this point in their life being shared by them to the younger children in the community.

i am very proud of them and this is a real testimony to all the hard work we have put into the clubs and the lives of these young people, well done boys!