By Steuart Pennington
“Nothing better than watching kids have fun” said Linda Khuzwayo organizer of the Dreamfields 12 schools soccer and netball tournament held at Michaelhouse on Saturday 14 September. It was an extraordinary day of competitive sport, joy and enthusiasm with +/- 350 youngsters from under-resourced schools having a special outing – and lunch!
Junior teams, all sponsored by Trafalgar property Venue sponsored by Michaelhouse MCPT
The Dreamfields Project www.dreamfieldsproject.org uses the power of football in South Africa to leverage significant investment in soccer facilities and equipment for township and rural schools. It is the dream of journalist and talk show host John Perlman, and consists of supplying primary schools with DreamBags. A DreamBag is a large bag filled with 15 pairs of boots and shin guards, and 15 sets of socks, shirts, shorts, and three footballs. Kit is supplied in the colour chosen by the schools, with boots given in the sizes requested.
More than 2 200 teams around the country so far have pulled out their kit from DreamBags, bags “full of possibility and promise” John enthuses. “We are now in 305 schools involving 23 000 learners”, Linda confirms.
Dreamfields focuses on children between the ages of 10 and 12 years. The delivery of the DreamBags to a school is an exciting event. The contents of the large bag are laid out, a bundle per player. Then each player is given his or her bundle, and that’s when things slow down a bit, before they get onto the field and square up to their competitors!
This event was sponsored by Trafalgar www.trafalgar.co.za one-stop property solutions and the Michaelhouse Community Partnership Trust www.michaelhouse.org and amyweb@michaelhouse.org. The 12 schools that competed were Asithuthuke Combined School*, Corrie Lynn Primary School, Lions River Primary School* , Crystal Springs Primary School* , Jabula Combined School*, Bruntville Primary School*, Nottingham Road Primary School*, Esiphethwini -Sendiza Primary School*, Curry’s Post Primary School, Eminyezaneni Secondary School, Shea O Connor Combined School*, Dabulamanzi Combined School, all situated within 20kms of Michaelhouse
The winners of the senior netball and senior soccer competition were from Asithuthuke Combined School, a very under-resourced school, which is one of eight schools involved with Partners for Possibility www.PfP4SA.org (marked with*) in the Midlands of Natal. PfP is an NGO which pairs business leaders with Principles of under-resourced schools with the objective of improving the schools functionality as a place of learning. Steuart partners with Asithuthuke.
Many large corporates sponsor this initiative including BrandSA www.brandsouthafrica.com.
What a happy, inspiring day for a number of good reasons!