Trip to South Africa

July 16, 2012

Monday, July 16th I left on a trip to South Africa. The purpose of the visit is to observe the various types of soccer ministry my collegues in Ambassadors in Sport are doing there. Then in August, Ambassadors in Sport is sending a delegation of 12 coaches and administrators to Haiti to observe what I am doing there. Please pray that this exchange of ideas and models produces some “Best practices” that can be shared with the 15 other countries that AIS serves in.

In South Africa AIS has developed a model call “Hope Academy”:
“Hope Academy is an intensive and holistic football based program that provides underprivileged children in Africa the opportunity to fulfil their God-given potential on and off the field.

Our vision is to strategically establish self-sustainable Hope Academies in disadvantaged communities and to uplift children in Africa in their football, faith and future.”

They have also started a ministry with prisoners in the notorious Drakenstien prison in Cape Town. Here is a story about them:

Cape Town, November 30th, 2011 – South Africa’s first prison-based football academy has been nominated for a prestigious accolade from globally recognised sporting organisation Beyond Sport.
This is the second time that Ambassadors in Sport’s (AIS) Drakenstein Hope Academy has received a nomination for Beyond Sport’s Social Inclusion Award for having recognised and successfully harnessed the potential football has as a mechanism for social upliftment. Being selected, as a finalist is no small feat – of the 400 entries from 125 countries into the various categories of the Beyond Sport Awards, 38 finalists were chosen and only four of these are from South Africa, one of which is the Drakenstein Hope Academy.

It will be a long trip: It will take me two days to get there and two days to get back. I will be in Africa 6 days, making the trip a 10 day adventure! Please pray that God will speak to our hearts through this trip and help us refine our strategies for His glory!