PeacePlayers South Africa Storybook FINAL - Flipbook - Page 61
the Laureus Youth Empowerment through Sport (YES) Programme in 2014, they also
witnessed PeacePlayers cut the programme in Molweni in 2013 due to limited funding.
Hundreds of Molweni and uMbumbulu participants were negatively impacted as a result
of the programme being pulled in their areas. Once this happened, Sifiso and Sanele knew
something needed to be done. There were too many factors outside of basketball that could
pull your participants down the wrong path.
They could have accepted that the organisation stopped offering programmes in Molweni.
Instead, "we applied the business principles we learned from the YES Programme and
Playing for Peace’s life skills curriculum to fill the basketball void in Molweni." Sifiso says.
They kept the programme alive without the organisation being able to operate there. When
asked the reason for doing this, Sifiso said, “It was more than just having an income, but it
was the passion and drive for building our community through sport.”
Bryan Franklin, Former Fellow in South Africa on Molweni: “Molweni was one of the first
communities I visited. Kyler McClary took me there when he first got to South Africa.
Molweni was basketball crazy! Sifiso played a huge role in keeping basketball alive. When
the organisation pulled out due to lack of funding, which prevented him from getting paid,
he kept training coaches and convinced them to volunteer.”
Former Molweni participants Christopher and Mipilonhle vividly remember their sessions
with their two big brothers. They remember Sifiso and Sanele coming in with balls and
teaching them how to shoot, dribble and pass. These two participants are now much older
and undoubtedly more appreciative of the moments Sifiso & Sanele made a safe space for. To
express their gratitude, they penned a letter about their big brothers for the world to read:
I. MIPILONHLE DUBE
“If there was a sports tournament in Molweni, it used to be for soccer or netball. If you
talked about basketball, people in Molweni would ignore you because they didn’t care
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