Dreams for my community
“I grew up in a township close to Bloempoort, South Africa. Bloempoort used to be a small village, but it no longer is today. More than a decade ago, God sent us a social care foundation our way, and it changed everything. They came to help us, to build our community stronger. They created a nutritional unit that provided people with food and knowledge, a preschool to educate our kids, a chill hub, a netball court, and a soccer field. Now, Bloempoort is like a city to us!
In 2018, God sent me another angel; Noor. Noor and I have equal minds. We had the same vision: to disconfirm people’s idea that soccer is only for boys. Together, we started Bloempoort’s first girls’ soccer team. After a while, when people from surrounding neighborhoods saw our girls playing and fighting just as hard as the boys, they started to believe us. Football foundations from the Netherlands started reaching out to us after observing our work, and they eventually decided to take us to a soccer workshop in Johannesburg - just so that we could obtain our instructor certificates. From that point on, it was like someone had poured petrol into a fire - I gained such great confidence, and a strong willingness to improve for my community.
I still coach the kids in Bloempoort and take them to tournaments. I'm telling you - the whole world - that I won't stop working for them until my last breath. But unfortunately, things are difficult in my country nowadays. And above our problems, the Coronavirus is harming my people. The government promised those who can’t work a grant of 20$, but they still haven’t received it. They promised us food, but they only took the food to specific neighborhoods, and to the Council’s friends and families. My people are hungry, but they are not allowed to work for virus safety reasons. People live very close to each other in the townships, so it’s almost impossible to keep the proper distance. I don't know what is going to happen in the next few months, but I know that uncertain and difficult times are ahead of us. Still, I believe that God and our ancestors will help us through the situation that we're facing. I didn't want to share this about my own country, but I can't keep quiet while watching my people drown.
Regardless of our difficulties, I want to say thank you to the foundations that contributed to the kids’ soccer teams, for making our community better and healthier. Without the hands and hearts of some people, many of us wouldn’t have any jobs to go to or food on their tables. In the future, I believe things will be better for us. I'm hoping to complete a Sports Management course to improve my work. Thank you, God, for having me in his world and helping me reach my dreams.”
- Godfrey, South Africa
