Campaign Story
Love Sport Africa
Our flagship program is the Rugby4WomenEmpowerment program. Which targets female teens and young adults in the townships of Gqeberha South Africa developing and empowering them through the game of rugby. By doing so we are able to provide them with access and opportunities that they wouldn’t have been exposed to previously. With the teens being such a pivotal age this also plays a big role as a deterrent to social ills that plague our under-resourced communities.
By giving these young girls a dream, hope and more importantly a sense of self worth and self belief they now believe they could achieve anything and everything they set their hearts to. They have also become young leaders in their community and province. Our Rugby4WomenEmpowerment Program has yielded 33 provincial players in 2 years, 2 South African Springbok u20 players, one girl invited to the springbok 7ns camp, 3 Girls getting a bursary to study at University of Pretoria and One girl at the Nelson Mandela University. Mother well township is slowly being recognized as the hub for young talent in Women’s rugby.
Vision
Our vision is to empower underprivileged communities with uniform and consistent ,quality sporting programs and educational opportunities through social developmental projects and programs that are aligned with the holistic life skill advancement of the individual. That will see them be able to thrive and be a people of value in any institution, entity and society.
We aim to achieve this by using sport as a vehicle for social change, through 3 focus areas.
- Quality Uniformed and consistent rugby training programs.
- Literacy support.
- Psycho Social support and career guidance.
Mission
Love Sport Africa is a non profit organization whose objective is bringing about positive change in impoverished communities by using sports as a vehicle to develop, empower and educate the individual holistically, which thus influences the family which in turn impacts the community as a whole.
Activities & Programs
- Rugby4WomenEmpowerment Program, targeting High schools girls and young adult women. Draws In 5 High schools that feeds the program with female athletes looking at playing rugby. The program partners with the local rugby club to plough back and enrich the community as a whole.
- Junior Rugby Skills program, targets primary school where there isn’t a sporting program and establishes a rugby program that caters for adolescents boys and girls from Gr3-Gr7. These girls then feed into the high schools, that feeds into the rugby club and the program.
- Christmas drive, The initiative taking Santa to where he has never been, is one where look at bringing children’s dreams to life, by bringing Santa clause to their doorsteps bearing gifts and Christmas miracles. We target various townships and areas around Gqeberha, mainly being informal settlements that have children residing in them. We give out gift wrapped toys and Family food and clothing hamper to the household.
Impact
- Our Women’s rugby team has placed 2nd in the overall Ep women’s league.
- We had 33 Provincial representatives from Ep u16,u18,u20 to Eastern province senior Women’s team.
- 2 Girls made South Africa Springbok u20
- 4 Girls got University Bursaries
- 3 Girls did their World rugby level 1 coaching course
- Two girls received employment.
- We had a SABC news feature that was aired through their platform.
- Athi Mayinje (Founder) was selected as both News 24 30 Young Mandela’s of the future of 2022 and Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans of 2023.
Support Needed
Our program reaches beyond the boundaries of just one community but several others. We struggle a lot with operational costs such as transport for players but also transport to get additional coaches to deepen our work in the communities. Along with financial support for our operational team, who most are unemployed yet give of themselves so diligently. We would use the funds to attain tutors that could assist our beneficiaries with their academic performance in order for them to make the most of their talent and use it to get access to tertiary and other opportunities. We would use the funds to support our beneficiaries on match days to have some nutritional support as many come from homes where they do not have much. Your support would allow us to deepen and also to expand our work.
Photos and Media
Please feel free to vision @lovesportafrica Instagram page for more videos and pictures of the work we do.
https://www.instagram.com/lovesportafrica?igsh=djFqOWw2ZHdpcWZn&utm_source=qr
Transparency and Accountability
We would agree to regular reporting on all programs or funding areas, with full transparency on budget and expenditure. We would get testimonial and success stories from partners and beneficiaries alike.
Interactions with High Five Fund
We would be able to raise awareness through various social platforms and influential spheres. We would be able to leverage, the media and federations to endorse our programs and support the initiatives enabling the reach of the collaboration to grow and also highlight the work.
