Over 400 Homestead youth, aged 6 to 18, all of whom are beneficiaries from Drop-in Centres (DICs) and Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCCs), took part in their second annual sports tournament held last Friday, March 22.
Homestead is a non-profit organisation that helps and supports children to stay away from the streets.
The sports tournament took place at the CYCC in Khayelitsha. Nine soccer and seven netball teams played against each other with the main goal of having fun.
The event was organised by the Homestead’s prevention and early intervention team.
The team players had been practising in earnest and displayed their talent and sporting skills encouraged by much loud and enthusiastic cheering from the sidelines.
Team Bishop Lavis came in first position and team Site C second in the netball tournament. For the soccer play-off, team Yizani was the winner and team Risiha came in second place.
The Homestead runs Drop-in Centres in Manenberg, Khayelitsha, Mitchell’s Plain, Bishop Lavis and Woodstock where over 500 vulnerable community children are supported. It also runs two residential CYCCs for up to 90 boys and youth; one in Khayelitsha and one in Observatory.
“Vulnerable children go through social struggles such as extreme poverty, dysfunctional family environments due to domestic and gang violence, lack of parental support and deliberate neglect and abuse; all these impact negatively on their development. The Homestead has introduced sports tournaments, amongst other programmes, as a strategy to keep children off the streets, and restore their hope for a better future through a ‘strengthen-based approach’, which looks beyond their trauma, struggles and shortcomings,” said Homestead prevention and early intervention programme manager, Nozuko Nothwanya.
The aim of the tournament was to bring children from different backgrounds together and promote sports participation for character building, and socialisation.
