This month has brought many changes to my usual World Race experience. The first being that we are an Unsung Hero team. This means that we have gotten to travel several places around South Africa looking for new contacts for future World Race teams to work with. The second change, I got to see a friend from back home who happens to be working with Athletes in Action in Cape Town.
I met Dominic five years ago when we both worked with the youth group at our church in Lansing. After a fun night of bowling with the youth kids I was giving him a ride home and he shared what the Lord was calling Him to next in his life. He was from South Africa, had lived in the U.S. for 5 years but felt that he was being called back to serve his home country. This past week I have gotten to see how he is being used by the Lord here in the Cape area, and hear more of the dreams God has given him for the future.
Dominic is a lover of sports, which make sense as his ministry is to athletes. He does a lot of work with college athletes and discipleship but this isn’t the part of his ministry we saw while we were there. In a place like Cape Town it’s easy to be comfortable. It is easy to stay in the city and soak in the beauty. For Dominic part of the vision God has given him takes him away from the city, and away from the college athletes. We got to see the part of his ministry and passion that takes him to the dirty streets of Khayelitsha; a tin community in the Cape area to love the kids through football.
Football I have found is a great way to reach out in South Africa. I am clearly way behind on what the people who live here already know. In a country that hosted the World Cup in 2010 this doesn’t come as a surprise. So, it was arranged for us to go out to the township to spend an afternoon playing football with these kids. Let me tell you about these kids.
There is a soccer field that has been built maybe 100 yards away from where we played. They can’t play on it because the gangs in the area won’t allow for it. What do you do when you really want to play soccer but don’t have a field? You make one yourself! These boys took the time to pick the bushes up out of the ground to clear an area to play. The ground is sand, and its on a hill, there is litter everywhere, and shards of glass in the sand. It is not an ideal field by any means. Still these kids play with such fierceness. We brought two footballs with us and by the end of the days they were demolished!
The kids have two coaches; Dominic and Nkosi. As well as a few of the older boys who help with the younger. They work together with these kids. Monday thru Thursday Nkosi is there with the kids after school. He takes the time to teach the technicality and skill of football but is also a mentor to the young boys. The vision is to be able to build several football fields in the sandy field they now play in. They want to create a safe place for the boys to play.
This vision is still in the baby stages. There is still a lot to happen before this will become a reality. They will need permission to buy the land, and money to buy it. After that they will need more money to level the sandy field and build the proper fields on top. The biggest need they will have once the facilities are built are the coaches. Men and women who love God and can teach these kids the technique of football while being a role model in their lives.
