In February 2011, I travelled to South Africa with the initial intention of volunteering with elementary school kids through an after school surfing program. The idea behind the program was to keep kids in school with the reward of having an opportunity to learn surfing after their classes. This would be an opportunity not common amongst kids in the neighborhood where I would be working. Could I surf? No. No fear, the program had an answer for this: Volunteers would be taught the necessary surf skills in the mornings while in the afternoons we would be sent to the ocean to hopefully relay our skills to the kids. Learning to surf in one morning sounds ambitious, and it is, but all we would most likely be responsible for was pushing small children, on larger than their body sized boards, around in the waves. The kids would get a chance to learn a skill that they otherwise would probably never have the opportunity to and volunteers would get to learn the same skill while at the same time helping others. Everyone would win....
If I said that my one and only motivation was to help, I would be lying. Yes, that was a draw, but the other side was getting an experience for myself and, yes, also learning to surf. About two weeks prior to my departure date I received an email telling me that the surf program was no longer in effect for varying reasons. I could either not go to South Africa, or I could choose another program through the same company. I decided to go with another program and selected the “sports development program.” I would be volunteering through a non-profit “The Future Factory.” I still had about seven bandaids on my arm from the, not so painless or side effect free, shots and had already quit the two jobs I had been working in order to pay for the trip. As well, I had given up my room in the house where I was living because I could not afford to pay rent while gone. I was going to South Africa. Surf program or not.
Some experiences take longer than others to form a memory or a meaning within ones mind. For me, it is rare that I see the whole picture while I am still involved in something. I would guess that is true for most people. It is only now, a little less than eight months after my program has ended, that I know what I want out of it.
What I ended up doing in South Africa was working at a primary school teaching grade R (kindergarten) through grade 7 gym classes. In case you are interested, I did something that barely resembled surfing on the weekends and resolved that it was best I would not be responsible for children in the ocean. Anyway, what I found out was this: In some schools, sports programs only happen when volunteers are present. No volunteers, no sports. This is not necessarily because of lack of funds. Schools might have the money , they just don't want to have to pay for something that volunteers can come and do for free. Even when we were there, certain grades only got to participate one time a week, and sometimes only once every other week for one hour. This is simply not enough.
My placement in the schools came out of a non-profit organization called The Future Factory run by, Anne Siroky. Anne started the Future Factory ten years ago and was outraged by the same lack of athletics issue that I was. The difference was that when she came across the problem, schools had NO athletics at all. The Future Factory now places volunteers in schools as well as creates jobs for coaches within the area. The program started in just a few schools and now has grown to be a part of over fifty in the Western Cape reaching over half a million kids in South Africa and now expanding to Australia and Vietnam. She created opportunities for kids when prior to her, there were none. She created something out of nothing. What I want to do is help the Future Factory continue that something.
My goal: Help Anne raise money so that even if volunteers are not present during periods of the year, the Future Factory can afford to continue paying coaches within the Cape to work for the schools. This would continue the sports for the kids and create jobs within the community. Another win win if you ask me....
I don't want to just ask for money. That is first of all, unoriginal, and second of all, it lacks meaning to me. So, I asked myself two very simple questions?
What is the cause? Continuing athletics in the name of an outlet for kids.
Why is this important? Without an outlet, kids, particularly of poorer communities, get lost in a very chaotic system. Most memories I have from childhood that helped teach me about community, discipline, and excited me, are derived from athletics. I started a life in athletics with gymnastics when I was four. I have not stopped since that time and I believe that a lot of who I have become and what I do is a direct result of a life in athletics and all that lifestyle entails. I want as many kids as possible to have similar opportunities.
This Spring I am going to bike over 1,000 miles with the hopes of raising at least $1,000 for the Future Factory. My hope is that on the way I can stop at schools and present the Future Factory to students. In a perfect scenario, this will get the kids thinking about people their same age in a country and on a continent that they most likely have not given much thought to. The common thread of sports will hopefully link them and I would like for the students to be able to contact each other starting a positive relationship between two very different places. On the way, I will keep a blog of the trip. I will log the hours it takes me to complete the journey and compare that amount of hours to the amount of hours a child in South Africa typically gets for athletics in a year. My thought is that this will create a more tangible representation of just how important this cause is.
