Madlamini Skaap with the soccer kit she bought for children in a small rural community in the Eastern Cape.
A Khayelitsha businesswoman has donated soccer kit to help some 300 children in a small rural community in the Eastern Cape.
Madlamini Skaap bought the kit and balls for needy children in Baccle’s Farm, in Ntabethemba near Queenstown, and she hopes the donation will encourage more of the community’s children to play football.
“I have never been to the area, but I heard about their struggle from a friend. I do not need to be there to know the poverty in the villages,” said Ms Skaap, who is a member of the Western Cape Inyangi Forum and the South African Religious Forum.
“I know what poverty is. I know how it is to sleep without food. I know how it is to be without basic things like shoes. If I have something, what stops me from giving to the needy? It is my way to shape their future and stop them from committing crimes.”
The soccer kit will be distributed to the children at the village during the Easter weekend.
Bafo Magalakanqa, the co-owner of Bucs, the Baccle’s Farm community’s soccer team, thanked Ms Skaap.
Speaking to Vukani by phone from Durban, he said: “This is not enough, but it's a start of good things. We are a poor community with a lot of unemployed parents. Our children play with their own clothes and broken shoes. But this intervention will have a great impact. There will be dignity to the young players. They will start to love their sport more than ever. This will also provide them with an opportunity to go out with pride.
“This woman has dug a furrow. We now need others to follow in her footsteps.”