The Non-Profit Organisation AMANDLA EduFootball (AMANDLA) was honoured by the visit of the US First Lady Michelle Obama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu to show their support for the work of the organisation at Cape Town Stadium.
Cape Town – On Thursday, the 23rd of June 25 participants from AMANDLA EduFootball’s programmes, accompanied by a selection of AMANDLA coaches and staff members, got the opportunity to visit Cape Town’s World Cup Stadium and meet the US First Lady Michelle Obama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. AMANDLA was selected to attend the event in order to showcase their unique “life-skills through football programmes” which stresses the importance of positive decision-making and living a healthy lifestyle. To kick-off the much-anticipated event Tutu and Obama addressed the group of young people, coaches, South African VIPS and a collection of international and national press that had assembled for the event. In the opening speeches the dignitaries stressed the importance of a healthy lifestyle and applauded the efforts of health-related initiatives, such as AMANDLA, who work to provide the children of today with the tools and skills to strive towards a brighter future.
After their speeches the First Lady and the Peace Nobel Prize Winner met with Florian Zech, Co-Founder and Managing Director of AMANDLA, who introduced them to the concept and mission of AMANDLA’s “Life-Skills through Football” activities. Much to the excitement and surprise of the participants both Tutu and Obama joined in the life-skills activity being implemented by the AMANDLA coaches. The activity, which aimed to demonstrate the importance of a healthy diet and an active lifestyle, allowed the dignitaries to show off their dribbling skills as they tried to avoid cones labeled with various junk foods. The activity served as an example of the many AMANDLA life-skills activities that are implemented on a daily basis as part of EduFootball’s education through football programming that successfully reaches more than 2500 disadvantaged youth on a weekly basis.
AMANDLA is an international Non-Profit Organisation that provides educational football programmes to children and youth with destabilised, traumatic and/or non-existing family and community structures in Cape Town. The bulk of AMANDLA’s programming is split between youth and childcare facilities from the greater Cape Town area and the Chris Campbell Memorial Field, an artificial turf facility co-initiated by AMANDLA and located in Khayelitsha. Through a partnership with the American-based CTC Ten Foundation AMANDLA has become the managing partner of the field and is repsonsible for the implementation of all ongoing programmes. Using football as a tool to educate children and provide a variety of Life-Skills, AMANDLA strives to create young leaders and role models who influence their peers in a positive way. Starting with 160 youth from 10 residential care facilities in 2007 growing to 550 youth in 2008, today AMANDLA reaches out to over 2500 youth from more than 35 residential care facilities and their surrounding communities on a weekly basis.
For more information visit: www.edufootball.org
