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Hoops 4 Hope News & Updates From Our H4H Champions
H4H Represents at CISA CISA (Africa International Sports Convention) is the largest event of its kind in the world, and gathers sport professionals at an African and international level. It represents a unique opportunity for international sport organizations to meet and network with leaders and decision makers of African sport. This year, the conference took place from April 22-‐24th in Johannesburg and H4H represented well. The program of the convention included a discussion forum, with seven topics reflecting realities of African sports and which aimed to address relevant recommendations to the development of sports in Africa. Each topic was addressed by renowned African and international speakers who introduced the topics and provoked interactive exchange and dialogue with the delegates. CISA also featured a Sport Exhibition, named Sport Expo, with the participation of major international companies working in the sports business field. These companies and organizations were given the opportunity to promote their products, programs, services, and explore new business opportunities. Hoops 4 Hope was a highlight at the Expo! We represented with the likes of FIFA, ANOCA, SASCO, IOC, and many other important sports federations from the continent.
WWW.HOOPSAFRICA.ORG
APRIL 2010
Chess 4 Hope Update Courtesy of H4H Partner Ikamva Labantu
To learn more about Chess 4 Hope, please visit the following link: http://www.ikamva.org/chess-4-hope/index.html
GREEN WEEK 2010 During the week of April 5th-10th, our friends at NBA Cares made Hoops 4 Hope the beneficiary of their annual “Recycling Dreams” campaign. The NBA Store held a week-long footwear drive, receiving gently worn sneakers, all of which will be sent to H4H’s official shipping container and will await their send- off to Cape Town! 2
WWW.HOOPSAFRICA.ORG
APRIL 2010
MVP Training New Leaders of 2010
Soccer 4 Hope & YDF Partnership Remains Strong!
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WWW.HOOPSAFRICA.ORG
APRIL 2010
New H4H Offices Rainbow Center Gugulethu, Cape Town Thanks to Ikamva Labantu, we now have phones, internet and of course the multi-‐sport court in our front yard. . .all in the heart of Gugulethu. Additional thanks to Empower Foundation for some new signage to compliment our new space!
Wewe and the German Development Minister Cape Town, 10 April 2010 Courtesy of our partners at YDF
’Football has powerfully and positively impacted my life’ stated 22-‐year-‐ old Wewe (Nomawethu Sokoyi), animatedly explaining her involvement in youth development through football to a clearly impressed German Development Minister. Dirk Niebel had come to South Africa to attend the sixth meeting of the Binational Commission together with German Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle. He was accompanied by a strong delegation of political and economic representatives from Germany. The Binational Commission is the crucial forum for political dialogue between the governments of the two countries. The meeting in Pretoria was opened by South Africa’s Vice-‐President, Kgalema Motlanthe, and secured EUR 112,5 million in the form of German funding to South Africa. The prevention of, and fight against, HIV and AIDS is one of the topics that will dominate the cooperation for the time being. As HIV/AIDS prevention is also an integral part of YDF’s life-‐skills programme, it was obvious for Dirk Niebel to visit the project, among others. The idea of youth development through football was strikingly presented by Wewe and some 60 other girls from Soccer4Hope, a non-‐governmental organisation and one of YDF’s partners in the Western Cape, on a pitch in the township of Khayelitsha. YDF Project Manager, Gerald Guskowski, commented on the project’s success and added to Wewe’s experiences: ‘Like Wewe, more than 20,000 youths in four South African provinces and eight other African countries have so far benefited from the YDF project. The results clearly indicate that sport in general, and especially football, is exceptionally suited to educating young girls and boys and to positively influencing their lives’.
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WWW.HOOPSAFRICA.ORG
APRIL 2010
Friends in Amandla! AMANDLA Ku Lutsha (Give Strength to Youth) is a non-‐profit sport for development organization providing educational advancement through soccer for youth in disadvantaged communities. On the 1st of May, they hosted the 24 AMANDLA Awareness event at the Chris Campbell Memorial Field, in Site B Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Through this event, they encouraged the youth to be aware of the positive alternatives to drugs, alcohol, and crime. Soccer 4 Hope was asked to join this event as a partner organization in the effort to provide sport for development programs to disadvantaged youth. We were also given the opportunity to set up a booth at the event, promoting information about the services and over 1500 young people resources we provide. In addition, we supplied an Under 16 Girls Team to participate in the U-‐16 Girls 24 hours of soccer & life skills Tournament; our team of MVPs! Six Soccer 4 Hope MVPs competed in more than 140 Teams the tournament and our participation was a great success! Our girls took home second place. Our MVPs hit the ground running in their first game, winning 17-‐0 versus one of the two Grass Roots soccer teams. From there, they went on to win three more games, before losing in the finals in an overtime shootout. Congratulations to all those who participated in this powerful event!
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WWW.HOOPSAFRICA.ORG
APRIL 2010
Hoops 4 Hope Steps It Up: Internalizing Its Social Impact Through The ‘Lead Your Life’ Program Written by Volunteer Eva Orbuch, March 19, 2010 One of the latest and most exciting developments in Hoops 4 Hope South Africa is the introduction of the Lead Your Life Program, specifically designed for the All Stars and All Star Managers to have a more enriching experience during their time as staff. For years we’ve known that Hoops 4 Hope has great programs and delivery of services to its main clients: kids from townships communities who participate in sports and life skills. But the South Africa director Kita Thierry, program manager Karl Voysey, and international director Mark Crandall realized that it was necessary to also focus on improving the lives of those very important people within the organization who make it all happen. A fruitful Hoops 4 Hope -‐ Stanford partnership lead two Stanford exchange students to intern at the Cape Town office for several months. Eva Orbuch and Tommy McAndrew took on the task of helping design and implement the first ever All Star personal development program, also known as Lead Your Life. Lead Your Life is a program that all All Stars and All Star Managers will take part in for the period of one year, in addition to their normal job responsibilities. This amazing opportunity consists of two major components: 1. Monthly workshops on valuable topics such as job hunting, work ethics, computer literacy, personal finance, leadership, and health and support, and 2. A peer-‐mentoring relationship in which qualified students from the University of Cape Town meet regularly with All Stars and guide them in developing and working towards their personal goals in education, employment, and many other aspects of life. In February, students on campus went through an application process and the Lead Your Life Program team at Hoops 4 Hope selected seven highly qualified individuals to be mentors. Buhle Gumede is one of the new mentors in this very first round of Lead Your Life. He is a 4th year UCT student studying Business Science, and he is originally from the township of Soweto. He has quite a lot of experience volunteering to tutor disadvantaged learners, and he is currently in the process of establishing a non-‐profit organization by the name of REDEFINE which aims at turning poor, disadvantaged students who display leadership talents into the next generation leaders of the nation. He is extremely enthusiastic about this new endeavor with Hoops 4 Hope in which he will work one on one with an All Star because he strongly believes in “paying it forward.” The month of March was a whirlwind of exciting activity in the initiation of Lead Your Life. On March 1, the All Stars gathered in the Ikamva Labantu Rainbow Centre in Gugulethu, Cape Town, and had a dynamic afternoon workshop given by Renay Bailey from the South African Department of Labor. It was amazing to hear both the diversity and commonality of people’s stories in a group of Hoops/Soccer 4 Hope All Stars and students from one of the top universities in the world, UCT. The Lead Your Life Program is only in its initial stages, but holds much potential to positively impact many people. The UCT students will hopefully gain valuable experience mentoring, challenging, and supporting a peer who may come from very different circumstances. The All Stars will be exposed to a whole new world, being truly encouraged, perhaps for the first time in their lives, to clarify and work towards personal goals and dreams. Hoops 4 Hope views Lead Your Life as a chance to foster even stronger individuals, increase their potential to move on to greater opportunities, and thus consistently open the door for new All Stars to enter the organization. Even the children on the ground in H4H’s programs will feel the benefit of Lead Your Life; a good coach must be strong in his own life in order to be the greatest help to his players. Stay tuned for more Lead Your Life Program updates in the coming months!
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WWW.HOOPSAFRICA.ORG
APRIL 2010
H4H Attends SSCN From March 24th-‐26th South African Director Thierry Kita and Programs Manager Karl Voysey attended the SSCN conference in Pretoria, South Africa. The Sport for Social Change Network (SSCN) is a meeting point for dynamic organizations involved or interested in using sport as a tool to make social change happen. The Southern African Hub is generously supported by Nike and YDF. Please go to their site to learn more: http://sscn-‐sa.ning.com/
Hoops 4 Hope & Soccer 4 Hope are leaders in providing sustainable and innovative programs for the empowerment and positive change of youth in disadvantaged communities through basketball and soccer based education, health, and skills for life programs in southern Africa.
Molly Blair, Director of Development
Hoops 4 Hope 34 Grove St. #1 NY, NY 10014 Mobile: 917.414.0810 Email: moblair28@gmail.com
Rick Gill, Canadian Director Hoops 4 Hope Unit #18 - 6195 168 St. Surrey, B.C. Canada V3S-3X9 Mobile: (778) 836-5114 Email: gill_rick@sd36.bc.ca
Mark Crandall, International Director and Founder Hoops 4 Hope Po Box 895 East Hampton, NY 11937 Mobile: 631.774.0571 Email: hoops4hope@mac.com
Thierry Kita, South African Director Hoops 4 Hope PO Box 165 Cape Town, South Africa 8000 Mobile: (27) 82-728-9109 Email: thierrykitam@mac.com
Ngoni Mukukula, Zimbabwean Director Hoops 4 Hope 19 Bates Street Milton Park, Harare Mobile: (263)(91) 240-4067 Email: nmukukula@yahoo.com