I would like to tell you why I train the kids from Dunoon in my free time. In 2007 I moved here, to Dunoon, one of the Townships from Cape Town. It is small and the area is overpopulated. You can find people from different African countries there. Like Zimbabwean, Malawian, Lesotho, Kenyan or Ethiopian. People are dissatisfied and there is a lot of crime between the different ethnic groups. South african people are afraid that foreigners steal there jobs. It’s sad to see that the little kids copy the xenophobic behaviour from their parents. I also saw so many young girls pregnant at an early age. I wanted to do something to combat this problem, so I went to all the schools in Dunoon to educate the children about the importance of sports. I told them sports can help them to get away from all the bad things in our society. They should put their focus on sports and not crime. I also told them to take care of their bodies and how to eat healthy.

I brought a group of kids from different backgrounds together for training and worked for the same goals. I want to build up a good relationship between the children.
For me it’s important to show them that they can escape this life with education and sports. It’s possible to start a carrear in sports if they train hard enough. Some kids told me they don’t have shoes, but I answered“ I ran barefoot until I was 18“.
I was lucky to get support and now I want to pass it on to the kids from Dunoon.