Andile Ngcobo, PACSA’s Bopha Siyakhona coordinator, writes

2010 Countdown

The start of any World Cup tournament is always an event that attracts attention, but the 19th edition will have wider significance for a nation that is keen to assert itself in the post-apartheid era and a continent enjoying prominence on the world. With kick off on the 11 June 2010 the country will find itself in the global spotlight as never before.

“BOPHA SIYAKHONA 2010 and Beyond” takes place in the build up to the World Cup. It’s a very exciting soccer and social encounter camp initiated by PACSA’s Youth and Conflict Transformation (YCT) programme and its partner organizations. This mini soccer world cup with social encounters runs from 5 to 10 April 2010, during the Easter school holidays, at Hilton College with teams mixed from different youth organisations, schools and churches, primarily from the Greater Pietermaritzburg area and KwaZulu Natal, but also with visiting groups from other provinces and countries. It is intended to bring together youth of different gender, race, class and national backgrounds. Activities promote nation-building by breaking down social barriers and to build leadership, life skills and trust for a skilled, more involved and unified generation of leaders for the future.

Bopha Siyakhona tournament includes a 5 day small field soccer camp for 24 soccer teams (7 players + 1 reserve). The teams will play in a junior and a senior team tournament. We would like the event to be attended by a wide range of different persons from different cultural backgrounds. Thus we are approaching very different organizations in several regions of South Africa and to a limited extent Zimbabwe, as an important neighbour, and Germany as a Northern partner of PACSA to send participants to the camp.

Activities between the soccer matches will include different workshops and games, where the youth will have space to encounter people very different from themselves, and surface hidden prejudices or suppressed pain, and work through some of the difficult issues facing them. Some of these include HIV and AIDS, gender violence, managing diversities and social inequalities, cultural and social norms, alcohol and drug abuse, gangs and peer pressure.

We are aware some youngsters may be disappointed at not having the opportunity to take part. However, we hope to empower teams to share their learnings back home. For more information, visit www.pacsa.org.za or contact Andile Ngcobo, Bernd Schultheiss, or Nhlanhla Radebe at (033) 342 0052.