Here’s my final update of the last 3 days of my trip to South Africa for Beyond Blue.

Wednesday

Drove to a project run by Amandla in the city centre. This project is run for orphan and trouble boys and the football aspect is a side show to the school that has been training troubled young men in Cape Town for over 100 years.

I also visited a girls home for young ladies who have been mistreated or are orphans. This project really has helped improve the life of these girls who really enjoy getting involved in some sport.

Thursday

Today I get taken back to Mitchells Plain to work with 2 volunteers who work as PE Teachers at Westville Primary school at the school sports day. Lots of colour, vibrance and of course noise! Vuvuzelas and screaming children and parents alike as the children took part in Potato and spoon, bucket and bean bag and hurdles. I presented the winning team with their trophy.

Following this I took some football coaching and awarded 2 pairs of goalie gloves to the best goalkeepers that I trained. The kids were so keen and it was heartening to see them have so much energy and desire to win. I then took a penalty shoot-out competition, the winning boy getting a few Pompey prizes. I then put the girls through their paces with some 3 touch football.

And so my last day of being involved with the coaching was done… exhausting but very, very rewarding! Continue reading “Roundup of BeyondBlue in SA” »

Today was my first chance to really get involved with the work here and get my hands dirty as we drove out to an area called Mitchell’s Plain. Around 1 million people live there and areas like these are like the “Chatsworth Estates” of the UK. Crime is fairly high but not as bad as Grassy Field where I spent yesterday that had seen shootings.

On my arrival at Hazeldene Primary School. I met the lovely Lindsay and Olly. Lindsay will be heavily involved in the Beyond Blue group’s movements as she will be coordinating it. As soon as I entered the main courtyard I was swamped by children. Literally hundreds of kids ran towards me and at one moment I thought I was going to fall over as I couldn’t move. It was evident they were happy to see a new person at the school and Lindsay said that this was a bit more than they are used to on a daily basis.

About 300 hugs later we managed to make it to the PT area, a concrete rectangle no bigger than a basketball court amongst a dusty field. Here we would take 30 minute sessions with a range of ages. We did some simple passing for soccer and then a little cricket. It was very hard work and pretty tiring trying to keep all of the kids focused on what they were doing.

Continue reading “Beyond Blue – Sport, Schools and SPF Factor” »

Today was the first day I got to see some of the work that the team here in Cape Town does. Base camp for the young people currently working here with the local communities is a large house on the site of an orphanage in an area called Rondebosch. This is where the group from Beyond Blue will be residing. I was shadowing 4 young lads from the UK, Jamie, Esse, Dave and Tom. The lads came from mixed backgrounds, brought together independently in their desire to come and work in Africa.

Driving through the outskirts of Cape Town we approached our destination of the Oasis centre. This is where the Beyond Blue group will spend a good deal of their time working with guys called Cliff and Luke on a project putting together a National homeless football team to represent SA. This project is near 2 townships, one called Grassy Field and the other Hannover Park. Jamie took me to see the school in Hannover Park called Crystal High, an ironic name given that the main drug of choice in a township such as this is Crystal Meth. This drug causes a great deal of the crime in the area, the school had been given a new fence by the government which was stolen, something commonplace in Cape Town; sold for scrap this would provide for a good many people.

Continue reading “Beyond Blue – Day 2” »

Hi, I’m Chris Vaux of the Jobsite team, reporting back on my first day in Cape Town, South Africa on the joint Jobsite, PFC and Coaching for Hope charity initiative Beyond Blue.

After a 12 hour flight, the plane descended into a blanket of murky clouds preparing to land I thought the pilot might have taken a wrong turn at Toulouse but he assured us the grey and drizzly landing was just a blip on the current climate. A brief view of Table Mountain on landing amongst the clouds and it was a reality. I was here in South Africa!

I was greeted at the airport by Norman Brook from Coaching For Hope, a very nice ex-pat Scottish gentleman that has resided in Africa for a few years now. He gave me a brief guided tour of Cape Town as we weaved our way to the waterfront via the cape flats, the largest township in cape town. We drove around the new football stadium built for the world cup, a great piece of architecture and the pride of the city.

Continue reading “Portsmouth calling Cape Town” »

Hi my name is Chris, I’m 31, from Portsmouth and Corporate Account Executive at Jobsite.

I’m writing this blog, because we’ve teamed up with Portsmouth Football Club to offer a life changing CV-optimising opportunity to 18-22 year olds, culminating in a chance to visit Africa where they will be providing skills and support to develop youngsters and face up to the many challenges of growing up in communities plagued with poverty and hardship. The joint initiative project is called ‘Beyond Blue’ and as part of this, one lucky person from Jobsite gets to go out to South Africa to see the project in action – and I am pleased to say, I’m that lucky person!

Being a huge Portsmouth fan and a keen Football enthusiast I was over the moon to get this opportunity  and see first-hand sports programmes that are delivered in some of the most deprived communities in South Africa getting a taste of what it is that Jobsite and Portsmouth FC are supporting in their Beyond Blue campaign. To have the chance to sample another culture and see how the project works to make people’s lives better, is literally a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Continue reading “Jobsite off to South Africa” »