Location: Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa

Centre Host: Grassroot Soccer (GRS)

Status: Opened December 5th 2009

Dec. 5, 2010: Khayelitsha one year later

Nov. 19, 2010: US national team visits the Football for Hope Centre in Khayelitsha

Aug 10, 2010: Siyakhona film inspires anti-xenophobia protest in Khayelitsha

May 11, 2010: Sir Elton John visits the Football for Hope Centre in Khayelitsha

Dec 5, 2009: Dossier on the inauguration of the Khayelitsha Football for Hope Centre

The Khayelitsha Football for Hope Centre is located in the Harare neighbourhood of Khayelitsha, the fastest-growing township and second-largest in South Africa after Soweto. Khayelitsha (meaning “new home”) was established in 1983 and covers an area of 47 km². It lies about 35 km east of the city centre of Cape Town. The population is estimated at approximately 1.2 million, of which some 40% are below the age of 19, and the majority of the people speak isiXhosa.  In 2007, the HIV prevalence rate was 30.2%.

Due to the rapid growth in population and a lack of economic opportunities, Khayelitsha faces many challenges. Most local residents make a living by selling various products on the streets. A small but growing number of entrepreneurs are engaged in tourism-related activities.

Grassroot Soccer (GRS) is a South African-based, non-profit organisation that integrates the cross-cultural appeal of football with evidence-based HIV prevention and life skills programmes that arm African youth with the knowledge, skills and support to live HIV-free.

Founded by former professional football players, GRS attracts and engages African youth through schools, community outreach and social media (e.g. magazines and TV). Since 2003, over 270,000 young people in 16 countries have received comprehensive HIV prevention education through programmes linked to GRS.

Grassroot Soccer’s core mission is to use the power of football in the fight against HIV/AIDS by providing young people with the skills and support to live HIV-free. The centre’s activities target children and young people aged 12–18 but the organisation welcomes all community members regardless of age. On the pitch of the Khayelitsha Football for Hope Centre, GRS delivers its Skillz Progamme, a two-hour session, three times a week, to 80-100 children.

In each session, football games and drills are combined with specially-designed exercises to help young people understand and deal with HIV and AIDS. Testing clinics are regularly set up within the centre and children are encouraged to find out their HIV status in a safe, supportive environment. GRS is also training local role models to deliver their interactive, football-themed behaviour development curriculum to young people, who in turn become peer educators within their own community.

Media training enables young people to use cameras, video and editing software and teach them journalistic skills. Additional training opportunities for computer literacy and classes in writing CVs and cover letters are offered on a regular basis.

GRS also continues its close collaboration with local schools: teachers and students will visit the centre together to participate in Skillz sessions or to make use of the existing IT infrastructure, which is not available in most of the community’s schools.

The City of Cape Town and its Sports and Recreation department in particular, has been an instrumental partner to the centre. It leased the land and building to streetfootballworld and Grassroot Soccer and is managing a number of public facilities which will be linked with the centre’s programmes.

Grassroot Soccer is also continuing its close collaboration with VPUU and the Khayelitsha Development Forum, tapping into maintenance and security systems and resources and using the existing community facilities in Harare.

ARG Design, a local architectural office, designed the Khayelitsha Football for Hope Centre in close collaboration with Grassroot Soccer and the community of Khayelitsha.

SolarWorld equipped the Khayelitsha Football for Hope Centre with photovoltaic panels.

Xolani Magqwaka
Khayelitsha Football for Hope Centre Manager
Grassroot Soccer

tel:+27 21 426 5154
cell: + 27 83 687 1194
email: xolani@grassrootsoccer.org 

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