This week we had our annual Ubuntu Fundraiser here in Cape Town. It was an incredible night and once again we are in AWE of what God is doing.
I got to emcee the night and it was such a privilege! Thought I would share part of me speech from the night, as it was really fun to share why I think Ubuntu is doing such a fantastic job. Read below!
- Welcome to the annual Ubuntu Family Fundraiser Night
- I am Sarah Prince, wife of Casey Prince, co-founder of Ubuntu Football
- We hope you enjoyed the game and refreshments and our hope is that tonight we feel thanked for your participation in the Ubuntu Football story and make it more a part of your heart.
- This is not a formal atmosphere but a FAMILY ATMOSPHERE so we hope you will feel at home, laugh, make some new friends, and get the spirit of what we are about.
Nelson Mandela said in 1997, “Our children are our greatest treasure. They are our future. Those who abuse them tear at the fabric of our society and weaken our nation.”
- The Youth of South Africa have always played a vital role in our history. They have always had a voice. Always had a battle cry, be it about football or freedom.
- Many believe that one of the major turning points in the struggle against apartheid is when 20,000 youth protested the Bantu education they thought to be unfair in Soweto in the year 1976.
- Many youth shed blood and died that day, and their cries still echo in the history of this nation.
- Their bloodshed was tragic but their spirit and fight was inspirational. It made the world stop and take notice.
- While 1994 brought democracy to South African and freedom for all races and backgrounds in this beautiful country, the past 20 years of history show that we are still far from the dreams that encompassed those hopeful years.
- The statistics of youth in South Africa paint a dire picture
- As South Africa continues to grow into its democracy and identity, it seems that we are mostly made up of young people
- Those who are below the age of 35 years constitute about 77.6 per cent of the total population. With over 50 million South Africans, 18.5 per cent are between the ages 10-19; and 24 per cent are aged 15-24.
- Young people are vulnerable to many health risks, while racism and discrimination remain serious concerns. Teenage pregnancy abounds, alcoholism and drugs are a daily massive threat. Often young people remark that suicide is one of their greatest worries as so many feel hopeless and lost.
- This picture is a reality as our family lives in the Ocean View community, residing on the property of the Ocean View Methodist church.
- The curbs of Ocean View are filled with young men and women who are without hope and vision for their lives. They are broken and without any ideas of how to move ahead.
- It seems as if the youth of 1976 lived with a fire burning in their souls that forced them to act. They were fed up with the discrimination and mistreatment and did something about it.
- Do today’s South African youth have the same resolve and vision? When I look out I see an apathy intertwined with their hopelessness. What can be done? How do we build a new South Africa in the face of such darkness?
- We at Ubuntu Football are not apathetic to the problem. We believe that the young people of South Africa can rise to their potential and change the trajectory of this nation and the entire continent of Africa.
- We aren’t here to just feed some children or set up sports games to keep them off the streets for a couple hours a day. We can’t continue to try to rescue broken men but we need to raise boys to become the true men this country needs. Ubuntu Football wants to raise the next great leaders of Africa through the context of football.
- We achieve this goal in two ways. One, we run a development program called ‘Football Forward’ for boys and girls age 8-12. This is open to all and has the components of soccer development and mentoring, reaching out to all who would like to come and participate.
- Next we run the Ubuntu Football Academy, which most of you are more familiar with. This is a high level football academy, where boys are chosen based on their soccer ability and character to be a part of our holistic and rigorous program. Not only are they trained at the highest level of soccer coaching, they are also sponsored with a private education here at the Sun Valley groups of school, are given proper nutrition, mentored and discipled throughout the entire year. The bar is set high for these boys and it is a arduous transition into the program, but over their time in the Ubuntu academy the boys settle into the vision and make it their own.
- The Ubuntu Football Academy was founded in 2011 and now has 40 boys in its academy ranging from age 12 to age 16.
- These boys aren’t just being trained in football but are brought into the Ubuntu family and expected to become part of the Ubuntu culture. It becomes part of their blood and permeates everything they do.
- And if Ubuntu is going to successfully transform boys that also have the opportunity to be apathetic like their peers they their mindsets, thinking and attitudes must change.
- One way this is brought to life is in the “Ubuntu Creed” that they have all memorized and recite together.
- When you do begin to take on this culture, and it gets into your soul and spirit, then success will naturally follow
- We have seen great success in our Ubuntu boys over the past three years both in educational strides and on the football pitch.
- In 2013 several of the high school boys received distinction in at least one subject, and Wade Coetzee won the trophy for math literacy.
- They also had a great amount of success on the football pitch. While playing with our partner club Fish Hoek AFC, the under-15’s won their league and their knockout final. Some of the players also played under-17 throughout the year and helped secure a promotion to the Super-League. Chadley Philander was named Junior Player of the Year at the club. Wade Coetze was selected for the under-16 Western Province Team.
- 10 of the Ubuntu boys played for the Cape Town Tygerberg District Team.
- While playing with Sun Valley, the boys won the regional Championship for the under-15 Coke Cup and the under-16 Metropolitan Cup. Their runner-up finish in the Metropolitan Cup meant they got to play in the national finals in Polokwane.
- 5 of the boys, Karl, Wade, Chadley, Eric, and Ryan, were selected for the Under-15 Coke Cup National Select Team.
- From that Carl Van Rensburg was one of four players nation-wide to tour Brazil this upcoming June during the world cup.
- These accolades are obviously stunning and impressive, but to me, what is most stunning is the character of these boys. In the past three years they have grown by leaps and bounds and I would be proud to call any of them my sons. I already do.
- None of this would be possible without the incredible, dedicated, and hilarious Ubuntu Football staff that give their lives to this purpose.
- Michael Jenkins, Casey Prince, Karl Ostrand, Erik and Melissa Hall, Treswill Overmeyer, Sean Lamb, and Thomas Ndabeni.