PeacePlayers South Africa Storybook FINAL - Flipbook - Page 128
Each year, PeacePlayers holds up to four large scale cross-community events
called Twinnings. These twinnings are designed to bring together youth from
participating and non-participating schools from around the country to engage
in a day of mixed basketball competitions and cultural exchange. These events
provide a unique opportunity for youth from urban and rural communities,
and private and public schools to meet. Ultimately, this leads to geographic
expansion, larger impact and heightened visibility for PeacePlayers.
St. Stithians Preparatory from Johannesburg had PeacePlayers on their radar
for well over a year, leading up to the twinning just before COVID in 2020. This
twinning was orchestrated by Umlazi Area Manager Thobani Ngubane. The
event was originally supposed to take place in Umlazi. Due to rain predictions,
and the fact that all Umlazi participating school courts are outdoors, Thobani
had to make a few last-minute calls. LIV Village opened up their indoor courts
to host the Twinning for a thrilling day of basketball games.
Despite PeacePlayers' inability to fund St. Stithians trip, the boy’s parents paid
their way, seeing the value PeacePlayers programmes add in the lives of our
youth. The team carpooled over 6 hours Southeast of Johannesburg to the
coast of South Africa in Durban for a day of competitive basketball and cultural
exchange. Umlazi township programme participants packed a taxi full of nearly
25 participants to meet St. Stithians at our partner, LIV Village’s site. Here
they participated in a round robin tournament. During the event, St Stithians
participants filled out a banner that originally debuted at the local Friendship
games, which indicated how they viewed change in South Africa.
A few months after the event, St. Stithians players and parents organized a shoe
drive for township participants of PeacePlayers. The connection still remains
intact and PeacePlayers hopes to visit St. Stithians in Johannesburg soon.
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PEACEPLAYERS SOUTH AFRICA STORYBOOK
