its all about the training...

pierre shares some info on the detailed training document

we are in the middle of our winter school holiday season at the moment and for our sports outreach team this is normally a time for some much needed rest. however this year we wanted to make the most of the time that we have with our sports mentors, who are all very enthusiastic young people who are still in school, so this was the ideal time to 'up skill' them with some new training and ideas around how we deliver our programme and engage with the local children who attend our daily clubs

some of the team in their new jersey kits and boots!

since starting our sports outreach in 2008 we have based our programmes around the already existing ubabalo soccer programme, which was created for the 2010 world cup, with some tweaks by our volunteers and dutch students over the last few years, however more recently we have been building great relationships with one of the guys who created the original ubabalo sports programme.

therefore it was a true blessing to have pierre and three of his team come up and join us at the elgin country club, which provided a splendid backdrop, to the two days of training and giving us new material which will hone our outreach to the 250 or so children who attend our clubs.

it was all a little daunting for our sports mentors who were encouraged to show off their existing skills on the soccer pitch and deliver a new training session, which we had prepared in the classroom via some team building and interactive video, to the group whilst receiving some 360 degree feed back on the things they did well and those things that they perhaps needed to work on, but they

it was a time for them to bond together as a team, have fun and receive some goodies which we had been saving up for such a time as this. we must thank franny black for the tracksuits which we gave out on the second day as well as lance and travis who will be delighted to know that the soccer boots which they bought over from canada were so well received by the mentors.....thanks guys.

eyes of dispair, oppertunities of hope

yesterday afternoon i returned to work with the kids at the hillside area of grabouw, it had been 6 weeks since i last saw them, and some devastating stuff had been happening to them and their friends from that area. many of the children, mostly the girls who we play/train netball with had been removed from their families due to abuse (of varying nature) and the numbers of kids attending our club was much lower than normal. as i looked into the eyes of some of those children i could see utter despair...my heart broke for them as i thought about their futures, their education and job opportunities, the homes they would create when they grow up.... and what would these children grow up to be like....their parents? or maybe with a little help well balanced members of a new south africa?...

here at the village of hope we not only look after 10 children infected with HIV but we also work with children all around grabouw, the teaching programme we use with the children is the ubabalo eafrica soccer skills, this not only looks at providing the children with a skill, like playing football but also lifeskills with a biblical teaching attached to give them the chance to grow up to be amazing adults..

....we are not looking for the next david beckham or even the next nelson mandela, but we are looking to invest in children who will become key players in their families, homes and communities....if you would like to see a short clip of the ubabalo initiative then please follow this link and see the way we are trying to bring a 'new hope' (thembalitsha) to these wonderful little souls..