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Hoops 4 Hope Global News & Updates From Our H4H Champions
H4H Coaches partner with NBA Cares in ‘Basketball Without Borders’ Hoops 4 Hope partnered again this September for the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders camp (BwB) in Johannesburg for our fourth year, teaching seminars in leadership, HIV prevention, gender equality, and being assistant coaches. As the league's global basketball development and community outreach program, BwB is co-organized by the NBA, FIBA and Basketball South Africa. BwB uses sport to influence positive social change, and features dozens of current and former NBA/WNBA players and team personnel as camp coaches. Team Hoops 4 Hope, comprised of our energetic All Star coaches, traveled from Cape Town and Zimbabwe to be part of this camp for the best players on the continent, giving them the skills they will need to excel on and off the court.
HOOPS 4 HOPE
OCTOBER 2009
11th Annual Summer Benefit August 22nd, 2009 Sagaponack, NY
THANK YOU! Thank you so much for your generous support of this summer's 11th Annual Hoops 4 Hope Summer Benefit. The party was truly inspiring, thanks in part to the marimba music, fantastic people attending, and speeches by Mike Lupica and Larry Brown.
Our visiting Zimbabweans, Sipho and Forward, spoke passionately of how our programs are effecting positive change in their communities. Special thanks to our gracious hosts Susan Burden and William Goldman, we successfully raised $100,000 this summer! Thank you so much for your continued generosity and we look forward to sharing more of our important work that is changing lives and bringing hope to more than 10,000 children in Africa!
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HOOPS 4 HOPE
OCTOBER 2009
Soccer 4 Hope Receives Grant from German Technical Cooperation, GTZ
Congratulations to Karl Voysey, our South African Programs Manager, and the Cape Town team for being awarded R150,000, approx. $20,000 US, from the German Youth Development through Football Project! This award has really put our Soccer 4 Hope Teams in the spotlight of attention for FIFA World Cup 2010. The Soccer 4 Hope Girls League project is in the 3rd year of implementation. It has grown from a handfull of schools in 2006 to currently incorporating 28 schools in the project. Through this league, Soccer 4 Hope delivers a fun, interactive life skills curriculum that supports girls in dealing with issues they are facing in their communities. It also develops a network of support and mentoring for the girls through the peer facilitator structure through which it is implemented. Youth Development through Football, or YDF, fosters youth development and peace with the emphasis on mutual understanding, fairness and tolerance, using football as a catalyst. The project focuses on the social dimension of the game, empowering girls and boys to improve their future prospects.
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HOOPS 4 HOPE
OCTOBER 2009
Team Profile: Cape Town
Oluwethu Mavuso “THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT FOR ME!” By: Alexandra Gratereaux Hoops 4 Hope/Soccer 4 Hope Intern-Public Relations Manager It’s hard to believe that it was only a year ago that seventeen- year- old MVP Oluwethu Mavuso joined Soccer 4 Hope. Born and raised in Khayelitsha, the high school sophomore has made leaps and bounds since fellow MVP Cindy Tofu introduced her to the NGO. Mavuso explains that had it not been for Cindy encouraging her to join S4H, she would have been in a very dark place today. “Last year around April I decided to commit suicide by taking my mother’s headache pills,” said Mavuso. “Prior to taking the pills I also mutilated myself and ended up in the hospital for nearly 2 weeks.” Mavuso, like many other teens in South Africa, faces the odds of poverty and challenges of being raised in a one-parent household. She tells how her entire life she’s dealt with her father coming in and out of her life, physically abusing herself, her mother, as well as her siblings. As a result Mavuso has developed crucial trust issues with people; especially men. On April 1st 2008, Mavuso’s 16th birthday, she couldn’t help but think of her estranged father. “I had a dream about him and it made me really angry,” Mavuso said. “I do anything when I am angry and I think about doing crazy things to myself.” Now that she is a leader in the S4H program she uses her story to inspire other youths to not let their living situations keep them down. “Through S4H I feel comfortable enough to tell my story to the kids at Nkazamlo Primary School. They must not think when they are angry, because you do not see things clearly when you are in that state of mind,” Mavuso said. “I tell them that there is a better future waiting for them.” Four days a week, Mavuso visits Nkazamlo Primary School in Makhaza Phase 1. She begins her MVP duties with the children by having an icebreaker. She then proceeds to teach her “Skills 4 Life” lesson which currently is on drugs and substance abuse. After this interaction, the girls have a practice soccer session with Mavuso coaching them; strengthening their soccer techniques. Once the girls are about to leave Mavuso completes her registry by documenting attendance and observations. “I enjoy teaching soccer a lot,” says Mavuso. “The lessons that I teach are great. My favorite is Module one because it focuses on the tools to reach one’s goals. That really encourages me.” Owning her own clothing line and being an actress are just a few of the aspirations that Mavusa has for herself. She does not hesitate to thank S4H for helping her through the tough times and teaching her the art of giving back. As she claims, “The future is bright for me!”
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HOOPS 4 HOPE
OCTOBER 2009
U.S. Champions of the Month: Nisreen and Christian Gardner
Nisreen & Christian Gardner hosted the first “Cocktails for Change” drinks mixer in San Francisco this past summer. Guests celebrated Hoops 4 Hope by gathering for a cocktail or two, raising enough money to build a new basketball court in Cape Town! Skyy Spirits graciously sponsored cocktails and various philanthropists donated prizes and lucky draw gifts. Auction items included: -A GAME IN A LUXURY GIANTS SUITE FOR 16 FRIENDS -A SIGNED, THROWBACK, JULIUS ERVING PHILADELPHIA 76ERS JERSEY -ASTOR & BLACK CUSTOM MADE HIGH END SCABAL FABRIC SUIT, X1 MONOGRAMMED CUSTOM SHIRT & TIE -EA SPORTS GAME COLLECTION -X2 Warriors 2nd Row Seats & VIP Parking -Chronicle Books Africa Collection -X3 Custom Made Monogrammed Astor & Black Shirts THANKS Sponsors: Astor & Black, Chronicle Books, EA Sports, The Gardner Family, SKYY SPIRITS, Tastemakers International & The Shimmon Family.
Stay tuned for more fundraisers. . .coming to a city near you! 5
If you’re in NYC this fall, watch out for our official Soccer 4 Hope Corporate Team, headed by Captain Eric Williams of Credit Suisse! Last week, they beat Grassroots Soccer 6-3. We hear they’re tearing up the turf, with solid defenders, strategic substitutions, and lots of goal scoring! Go Team S4H! Our Zimbabwean friends Levy Mwanza and Forward Mandizadza were ringers in last week’s game!
Happy Fall! Mark Crandall, Founder and International Director Molly Blair, Director of Development
Hoops 4 Hope is a leader 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.
Hoops 4 Hope (H4H) is a non-for-profit organization which gives over 10,000 children in South Africa and Zimbabwe every year a better chance to beat the odds in communities plagued by poverty, HIV/AIDS, drugs and crime. Founded in 1995, H4H combines the joy of sports programs with youth friendly curriculum that promotes leadership and responsibility, while empowering youngsters to thrive in the big leagues of life.
Hoops 4 Hope Po Box 895 East Hampton, NY 11937 Phone: 631.267.8682 Fax: 206.984.3965 www.hoopsafrica.org