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School of Excellence Girls Win Tournament

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United Through Sport South Africa was invited by Imbewu South Africa to take part in a World AIDS Day Knock-Out Tournament, which was held at the Dan Qeqe Stadium in Zwide on the 1st December. The tournament had netball, tennis, basketball and 5-a-side soccer games for U/13s and U/16s.

We had our U/16 netball girls and soccer boys playing in this tournament. There were three U/16 netball teams involved on the day, as well as 4 four U/16 soccer teams from other local schools. Our boys played well but unfortunately got knocked out and did not make the final. They played 3 games and with only one win, they lost the other two matches. The girls, on the other hand, played a total of 3 matches, made it through the finals and were the day’s winners! Having the floating trophy and their medals, the girls felt very proud to be United Through Sport SA girls!

This was a great way of ending the year for the kids, on a high spirit of working together as a team and we are happy that Imbewu SA invited us to take part in this tournament and to raise awareness about this deadly disease.

Noddy Climbs to Everest Base Camp

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Nadeem ‘Noddy’ Arshad has completed the impressive feat of climbing to Everest Base Camp (over 6000 metres above sea level) to raise over £500 for our project work in South Africa.

Having spent time working with United Through Sport in South Africa in October 2009, Noddy was inspired to trek to Everest Base Camp to raise some valuable cash for the communities he worked with.

Noddy explained, “I worked with United Through Sport South Africa to help develop and improve the lives of children from underprivileged communities in Port Elizabeth. It was a pleasure to see how mine and other volunteers’ help can go towards improving the health and well-being of these young children. I would like to go back one day and help again but in the meantime, I will do all I can to provide further assistance to this amazing organisation.”

On behalf of all the Trustees at United Through Sport South Africa and the children we work with, we would like to extend a big thanks – bigger than Everest even! – for Noddy’s amazing achievement and all the money he raised!

Stationary donation for School of Excellence Kids

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Rio-tinto continued their all round support of the School of Excellence kids by providing 180 brand new stationary packs for all of the sponsored children at the School of Excellence. Each pack contained pencils, pens, a ruler, eraser, calculator and scissors. Lubabalo Mpongoshe, Project Manager of the School of Excellence program said, “These packs are the perfect gift to start off the new year for the scholars. Every year it is a financial struggle to make sure our kids have the right equipment to perform academically, this year Rio-tinto’s donation has really given them a push start”.

Launch of the new Soccer Fun Bus

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A new project under the A Chance To Play (ACTP) project umbrella (funded by VW Works Council through Terres des Hommes Germany) within United Through Sport South Africa is a real eye-catcher! The colorful Soccer Fun Bus was launched recently with qualified trainers and the necessary equipment on board to visit schools and other facilities in and around Port Elizabeth, offering sport and play opportunities for girls and boys. The physical activities are accompanied by special training sessions for children and young people on relevant topics such as HIV and AIDS, gender equality and self esteem and decision making. The initiative that also has support from Volkswagen South Africa, making the bus available, and the German State of Lower Saxony will reach out to more than 12000 children in 2010.

In recent months United Through Sport South Africa (UTS SA) has already visited some 30 schools in underdeveloped areas and presented different sports codes as part of an ACTP road show. Nick Mould, Director of UTS SA explained, “Thanks to the bus we can now broaden our impact and also visit other schools outside the Nelson Mandela Bay, we can now take our key life-skills curriculum to areas that seldom see any kind of intervention”.

Soup Book Released

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For their 2008 Christmas campaign, United Through Sport has produced a unique soup recipe book to support the South Africa School of Sporting Excellence in building a soup kitchen to feed all their students.

The aims of the school are to not only enhance sporting levels in football, netball and rugby but also to offer a fully rounded education to increase the choices available to these talented yet disadvantaged children. Students are given the kind of attention and education that is hard to achieve in a regular school, as well as additional life skills training in subjects such as HIV/AIDS awareness, alcohol and drug abuse and career guidance.

To support this great cause in South Africa, please buy a book! Even if you don’t like soup, these books make a great Christmas stocking filler for friends and family.

To buy a book, go to www.JustGiving.com/soupkitchen and follow the instructions.