Lucretia Carelse, goalkeeper for our girls’ football [soccer] team, could very well be the leader of the entire sports outreach in the future. We’ve watched her developing leadership skills within the context of the team, Cape Town Angels, and the Jogo Bonito School of Excellence. Lucretia was in charge of our first Annual Awards Dinner for more than 200 friends and family, and she and her teenage helpers proved their potential for future leadership.

At Risk Girls

We believe that some day these young women could be the people God will use to continue to reach out to at-risk girls in South Africa. And they are at risk! South Africa has the highest rate of rapes in the world. Four of ten girls suffer some kind of abuse. Half of today’s 15-year-olds will likely contract HIV/AIDS in their lifetime. Within that grim context, we started the Jogo Bonito School of Excellence as an environment in which to share the gospel with young girls. It’s an intense sports training academy that operates ten months each year. Jogo Bonito is Portuguese for “the beautiful game,” embodying everything that is good about football—the pure love of the game. Cape Town Angels Football Club developed out of Jogo Bonito. During the past five years, more than 200 girls have been involved in the program. Many of them have met Christ and been baptized. Now they’re reaching out to their teammates and to their opponents.

Our Vision for the Girls

We want to give each girl in the program:

• an understanding of Jesus’ love for her
• practical education about HIV/AIDS
• motivation to finish high school
• capacity for future leadership
• a chance to develop to the national football team level

The only safe way for the girls to get to our activities is for us to provide transportation. We personally purchased several vans, and we welcome help with the monthly costs of maintenance, insurance, and fuel (which runs as high as $600 U.S. per month). Moreover, almost all the girls would be considered “urban poor,” and thus they need help to buy their boots and uniforms.

Give

You can support this project by giving to Project # ZA 97597

Go

Short-term workers can help in this ministry.