–— GLOBALGLOBAL SITES:SITES: SOUTH AFRICA –—CATCHING UP WITH LINDANI AND OLWAMILindani and Olwami are two recent PeacePlayers South Africa alumni.Read what they have to say about the role that PeacePlayers and basketballitself are having in their country.TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF.Lindani: My name is Lindani. I’m from Umlazi, South Africa. I'm 21 years old, and I'm a person whoreally likes people who’ve got positive vibes. I've been part of PeacePlayers for ten years now.Olwami: My name is Olwami Zungu. I'm just a young, enthusiastic and ambitious boy from Imbali,which is a very big township in Pietermaritzburg. But yeah, I’m just somebody that wants to changethe way things are done in life.COULD YOU SHARE A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT IT’S LIKE LIVING IN SOUTH AFRICA ANDWHY YOU THINK PEACEPLAYERS EXISTS WHERE YOU ARE?Lindani: I think the reason why PeacePlayers exists here in South Africa is because even thoughSouth Africa is a rainbow nation, there is still crime. There is still racism. There is still genderinequality. So [PeacePlayers] is here to fight all of that using the young ones – through sports. Myexperience is that PeacePlayers is not just about basketball. PeacePlayers are here to implement apositive thinking in our heads and build us to be leaders.I always told myself that if PeacePlayers wasn’t there for me, maybe I wouldn’t be the person thatI am today because I’ve seen people who I was studying with at a younger age, and some of themhave died, some of them are taking drugs. So I can say it’s really changed my life and it’s reallychanging other people’s lives.Olwami: You know, through playing basketball, you can meet people you otherwise neverwould have met. I’ve made so many connections playing, and now coaching basketball, that havecontinued to serve me in school and professionally. I never saw this path for myself, but basketballbrought me here. PeacePlayers helped bring me here. So, it’s going to be amazing to see where all theyoung PeacePlayers go, and all the doors that open up for them, largely because they participated inour program.cIt doesn’t matter what race you are. It doesn’t matter what religionyou follow. We all play the same game. That was also my first timeactually playing with girls, and just being able to understand thatthey’re not just girls – they’re basketball players. Because one girlactually said that they don’t wanna always be treated softly, youknow, and I actually understood that. Why are we always limitinggirls thinking that they can’t play basketball like men? Well, yesthey can.Olwami,Pe a c e P l aye r s S o uthAfriWhen we play basketball, it doesn’t matter which school you come from.aPAGE 34
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