mentors bafana bafana trip and retruning HAN student as volunteer

teams line up for the national anthems

on sunday evening we were able to take our 15 sports mentors to watch bafana bafana, the south african football team, play against nigeria in the group stages of the african nations championship which is being hosted in cape town throughout the month. the trip was a christmas present for the mentors from myself and maz however as the national team were on the end of a 3-1 thumping the mentors probably didn't enjoy it as much as we had hoped!

sports mentors take up a whole row before the game
(sive, 3rd from left, looks really happy, not, and that was
before they lost!

saying that it's great to be able to take these amazing young people to special events like that, its definitely not something they would ever be able to do and as with similar trips we have made before to see norway and manchester united play its a sight to behold to see the joy on their faces and the excitement in their eyes as we walk through the v&a waterfront in cape town and enter the stadium to watch their hero's.

as well as the mentors we were able to bless a few of our volunteers with tickets to the game, and although they were working, helping us keep an eye on the boys and girls is somewhat similar to herding cats, especially after the game when the crowd is at its height, they say that many hands make light work and we hope they enjoyed their time.

emma, shana and jasper enjoy the pre-match atmosphere

over the weekend we were also blessed with the return of our first long term volunteer from our partnership with the HAN university in holland, jasper spent 6 months with us in 2011 and its great that he has decided to join us full time for two and half months, we are really looking forward to him helping to develop our sports outreach, mentor our mentors and generally assist shana, bonny and josh, when he returns, each afternoon at the clubs we run in the local community.

and finally can we ask you to please lift our mentors in prayer, lots of them are going through some tough times at the moment, what with them moving to new classes, or new schools, some have major social issues which make it hard for them to commit to our outreach as often as they would like. thanks

theres nor way that norway can win!l

view from signal hill

the title of this post refers to the banter that the sports mentors and older sports outreach kids were having with me before the bafana bafana game in cape town's greenpoint stadium last night, however for those of you who follow international football (that's the real european type, sometimes wrongly called to as soccer, and not the american style 'football', which is more like rugby with padding!) then you will know that in fact the little country of norway turned the tables on the south african national team and did indeed beat them 1-0.

can i take a picture

the game was of little importance as a sporting spectacle due to the fact that it was only a friendly, providing some much needed match practice for the south african team before they host the african cup of nations (similar to the european championships and not to be confused with anything which might be referred to as a world series, which would only include one country!) later this month. but saying that it was of great importance to our band of sports mentors who had never seen their countrymen play in the flesh before.

watching the warm up

although the game didn't start until 8.15pm, later changed to 8.30pm for some reason or another, we set off in rob's trusty land rover and the village of hope's hyundai H1 at around 3 o'clock and picked up 14 boys and 2 young ladies from the various areas, informal and formal settlements of grabouw, and set off down the mountain to cape town to enjoy an afternoon of fun before the big event.

another corner to bafana bafana

it is a real privilege to take these young adults anywhere, many of them have a very limited knowledge of anything outside their home, or home town, so to show them the sights of cape town, the magnificent table mountain, the harbour, beaches, tall office blocks and the waterfront is somewhat eyeopening on both sides.

our first view of the greenpoint stadium was from the rump of lions head, commonly know as signal hill, this little tourist spot provides a wonderful vista over the beaches of sea point towards robben island, of which the boys seemed very pleased to see as well! we then ventured down into cape town's waterfront where we enjoyed a meal at mcdonalds. all of this was a revelation to some of the boys who were keen on taking photos of each other eating their quaterpounder with cheese meal!

after the meal we had one of the most memorable experiences, we had entered the first floor restaurant via the stairs but as we left to go down towards the stadium two of the boys created quite a scene when confronted by a moving staircase (an escalator to me and you) which they were very skeptical to step onto. it's incredible to think that these older teenage boys had never taken the ride down an escalator but that in a way is the conundrum that we live with in south africa. for a few it is a country of western standards which people take for granted, for the majority it is a land that basic housing, sanitation and services are something to long for and things that one takes for granted are new, exciting and sometimes scary to others. (for further experiences please visit our previous posts entitled supporting mentors and sports mentors united in cape town)

excitement was building as we entered the stadium, we found our seats after being searched at the security point which was another point of hilarity, and the boys faces lit up as they saw their hero's warming up right in front of them.

the game was a bit of a mixed bag and you can visit sports sites to read up on what the reporters had to say about the tactics, the abilities and perhaps the prospects of bafana bafana in the upcoming tournament, all i will say is that south africa had all the possession with little fire power upfront, norway played well, shut down in midfield and scored with perhaps their only real opportunity of the game.

our journey home was almost as eventful as they boys were keen to stay together, never being in such a large crowd my hand was gripped by a 17 year old boy who was so worried about getting lost in the dark in the middle of a big city (and rightly so), the bright lights of the city reflected in their excited eyes, win, lose or draw they were going to have an amazing time and i feel honoured to be able to serve these guys who support our work week in week out as we try to bring a little highlight into the lives of the 200 or so children we work with via our sports outreach.

a great time was had by all, arrived home just after midnight where many boys went back to their simple shacks and the conundrum started all over again as i dropped them off into those homes with no electricity or running water knowing that my house was just up the track and a security light would brighten my way to my soft bed.

we wish bafana bafana all the best for the cup of nations and we hope to be able to provide other children with experiences like our 16 mentors had last night.

sports mentors united in cape town

on saturday afternoon we were able to bless 7 of our sports mentors, the boys aged 16-20 who help us with our sports outreach each afternoon, with a trip to cape town to see cape ajax play manchester united. the weather was similar to that on a summers afternoon in manchester with wind and rain accompanying us on our journey from grabouw but once we found our seats high up in the green point stadium the sun came out to weclome the cape ajax team!

manchester united tour 2012, cape town!

another manchester united corner

as you can imagine the stadium was packed with manchester united fans, some how this team is loved the world over, however even though the game was a friendly and had that feel about it but cape ajax played very well and gave the likes of paul scholes and anton ferdinand a bit of a run around, indeed taking the lead late in the match with a brilliant goal but ajax's defence finally broke 2 minutes into added time when manchester united finally got the ball into the net to earn a 1-1 draw.

men and 4 of our mentors, in the ajax jackets!

the boys really enjoyed their time and it was wonderful to see their eyes as they sat enthralled watching their hero's right in front of them. we aren't able to pay the boys so for us to be able to repay them for all their hard work and commitment in this way is a real pleasure.

supporting mentors...ajax come so close

view from signal hill

its hard to put into words the sights, sounds, feeling and or just the experience that we had yesterday evening as we took our 8 mentors who help with our sports outreach to watch cape ajax v orlando pirates at the green point stadium in cape town. we were also joined by some of the dutch students and a few of our volunteers who came along for the ride (more about that later).

our first stop was at signal hill, the back side of lions head mountain which shares the cape town backdrop with the world famous table mountain, from our lofty view the boys had a great vista across their city and were amazed by the sight of the stadium far below. as we drank in the view the mist from table mountain rolled in front of us, causing the stadium and roben island to appear and disappear from the scene....one of the boys commented that it looked like a dream, and in a way he was right, it was a long way from the realities of his daily life filled full of worries about the basic things of life that we all take for granted.

the wow of the stadium

from those lofty heights we ventured down into cape town and made our way to the victoria and alfred waterfront where the boys were wowed by the street performers and overwhelmed by the amount of people enjoying the sights and sounds of africa (not the real africa but a good introduction to the the continents many tourists!).

after a long meal at the mcdonalds overlooking the harbour, where the boys enjoyed and even lingered over their big mac and fries, we made our way with a few thousand other vuvuzela blowing fans to the stadium and other than a few minutes getting through the not so tight security we found ourselves walking up the steps to the awe inspiring stadium which was fully lit against the cape town skyline.

to see the faces of the boys as they saw the view of the pitch for the first time was one of the most amazing things i have had the pleasure to have share, their eyes opened wide at the spectacle that presented its self before them, not only were they dumb struck by the vastness of the stadium but also with the presence of their famous footballing stars right before their eyes.

our intrepid volunteers

many of the boys come from homes with no running water, let alone electric to power a tv, for some of them these legends were only seen via the newspapers or soccer magazines telling of tales of heroism and glory. tonight they were going to share in the highs and lows of their team, and even if 'their team' wasn't playing they would cheer and clap at every move of these modern day gladiators. (i've be waiting to write a report like this for years but after the 2010 debacle that england played on this very pitch against a poor algeria side, and the fact that that night the stadium wasn't a riotous colour of african fans but just the same old random blokes from london, huddersfield or manchester who were in south africa to watch their hero's fail once more, (this time in africa (rather than south america or europe as has happened so many time before), it didn't seem that fitting until now!

only god can help his team!

the game was fast and furious with cape ajax taking a dissevered lead around 20 minutes, however that lead only spurred on the pirates and their large allegiance of supporters which out numbered the home support by at least 2 to 1, and they leveled 3 minutes later with what was to be the last goal of the game.

we were surrounded by home, away and even neutral supporters who all aligned their support of their clubs, pirates, ajax, cheifs and stars fans chanting their songs, calling upon their god's support of their teams...the riot of colour, the cacophony of sound filled the stadium and although the game ended as a 1-1 draw each fan, each child and spectator took away their own thoughts and dreams such as i have seldom seen before.

boys enjoying after game celebrations at the waterfront

after a short walk back to the waterfront, posing in front of the 'ferries wheel' we found our faithful combi to join the queues of vehicles making their way back to their homes, for us it was grabouw  but along the N2 we said our goodbyes to those from the townships of langa, athlone, kayhelitsha, maccassa and lwandle.....

...dropping the boys off in the informal settlements of grabouw proved to be a quiet affair with the majority of friday night party people in their homes when we arrived at 11.30...and as we dropped off our last of our sleepy mentors we received a phone call from 'the girls', our volunteers had broken down half way up (or down dependant on your stance) sir lowry's pass in our newly acquired audi A4....argh....another two hours waited us as we firstly returned to the village of hope to secure our toyota hilux to provide the much needed pulling power, but found that the car was fixed fast and only a tow truck would suffice to bring the car to its return to grabouw.

the audi on the tow truck...eeek how much will
that cost?

an amazing and long day came to an end at 1.30am with thoughts of new sights and sounds, new friendships made and the thought of an expensive repair bill filling my mind!....

...for me today is another day, the stresses and strains of running a project which engages with people infected or affected by HIV, AIDS or TB, but for the boys a new day has dawned where they have seen the stuff of dreams.....such is the life we lead here in grabouw, its a real conundrum but thanks for taking the journey with us.