Holiday Camps

Umzingisi has been running holiday camps throughout the duration of the school holidays. Each camp runs from Monday to Friday where a football tournament is held at the end of the week. The camps are comprised of sports coaching but also incorporate the YDF curriculum which coaches the kids in life skills and focuses a lot on HIV/Aids awareness.

The first of these camps was held in Langa, a township in Uitenhage. On Friday, the day of the tournament, Germany was playing Serbia in Port Elizabeth and we had tickets to give away to some of the kids that were attending the camp. From the start of the week, the kids were informed about the 12 tickets we would be giving away at the end of the camp. They were told how we would be keeping an eye out for their behaviour, participation, attendance and such related criteria that would stand them a chance to win the tickets to the World Cup.

The tournament was a street one with a lot of support from the community as people were hanging around watching the games. The lucky 12 kids were announced on this day and they received blankets to keep them warm at the stadium as well as Germany and South African flags. Blankets and t-shirts were also distributed to the spectators of the tournament. Prizes were given to winners such as 1st and 2nd place, golden boot and a fair play award.These prizes included bags, balls, t-shirts, towels as well as a Liverpool T-shirt.

Straight from the tournament, the kids were transported to the stadium to watch the match. It was a lot of fun on the way with the kids waving their flags all the way to their destination. At the stadium, being surrounded by both supporters for Germany and Serbia, the kids were in awe of their surroundings and the total attendance of +38 000 people. They were all rather disappointed with the result of the match but nonetheless excited to have been part of it all.