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Dear Friends of

Ubuntu Football,

Fall 2012Nurturing the next generation of African leaders and footballers.

What a difference 6 months makes! Previously,

Ubuntu was essentially a football academy program

 between 5pm-7pm four times a week. This year, we

feel as though every moment of every day is spent

investing in the lives on our players—from school

pick-ups at 7am to packing lunches every night! Best

of all are occasional calls from the principal's office

(inevitable when you are the "parents" of 17

extremely energetic boys!). What's so encouraging is

that this kind of full-time input is exactly what

youngsters need in order to become the great men,

leaders and footballers of tomorrow, which is the

mission we've embarked on with your support.

You will remember that the major focus of this year 

has been extending our mentorship through football

into the classroom, and in our 

previous newsletter you saw

photos of the boys all in uniform,

ready for their first day at school.

With every passing day it has

 become more and more evident

that this step was absolutely crucial. Sun Valley

Primary and Silvermine Academy have partnered

with us as fully as we could have hoped, providing

exceptional individual attention to each boy's

academic progress, emotional well-being and

character development. Our boys have been pushed

and assisted to a whole new level of learning and

have responded brilliantly. At times each of them

has had to confront and work through challenges

that they might otherwise have simply side-stepped.

And, this entire process of education and learning to

overcome adversity has been within the context of 

steadfast belief in each individual's potential and

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2

Donec sit amet arcu.

value. From our experience, it seems clear that these

3 principles—learning, embracing challenges and

 being valued—are part of the foundation on which

great lives are built.

On the football field, our players have continued to

excel, earning recognition and admiration across

Cape Town, not only for their success, but also for the spirit and style they bring to the football field.

The Strandfontein Under-13 tournament is the

unofficial start of the junior season in Cape Town,

and attracts the very best talent from various leagues

across the city. Our boys, playing for the Fish Hoek 

under-13 side, made it all the way to the final beating

extremely strong sides like the Old Mutual and Mr.

Price Academy sides en route. We lost the final game

 but our boys were excellent throughout, and by the

end of the weekend countless coaches and spectators

had stopped us to say that they have never seen such

excellent football from under-13 players, which was a

great credit to the way our boys played. One of our 

players, Wandile Sicholo, was named player of the

tournament, which is a remarkable accomplishment

given the fact that he was up against the best players

in the province, including the likes of Ajax & Santos.

The official league season has gotten off to a great

start for our under-13 and under-14 players, and

recently the Fish Hoek under-13A's further 

established their credentials as one of the teams to

 beat in Cape Town by winning 2-0 against the Ajax

Under-13A side. Ajax are arguably the most

successful junior development organization in South

Africa, and had won all of their league games so far 

this season so this was a fantastic achievement for 

our boys. We'd be delighted to have you come down

and watch the boys in action any Saturday, and

our home gameagainst

Hellenic at

10.40 on

Saturday

June 2nd

should be an

excellent one

to watch

(also home on June 23rd). Please feel free to contact

us for directions or later fixture details if you'd like

to join us any time.

Away from the academy, our Football Forward

grassroots mentorship through football in Ocean

View has been growing almost every week and has

 become a very popular place for kids between 6 and

12 years of age every Monday and Wednesday

afternoon. The goal of Football Forward is to

provide a healthy, safe alternative to the streets for 

youngsters after school. Every Monday and

Wednesday afternoon we have around 65 kids

coming down for some great coaching, nearly an

hour of non-stop game time and a ten-minute life-

skill lesson. While the Academy focuses on an

intensive footballing and educational mentorship of 

exceptional young players with the hope that they

will grow up to become iconic leaders of the future,

Football Forward is our way of building strong,

 broad-based connections within local communities.

Some of the younger players we see every week may

go on to become part of the academy one day, and

hopefully all of them will learn values that will point

their lives in the right direction.

As always, we're so grateful to you—our 

supporters—for being such a vital part of this team.

All of this has been made possible by your 

generosity, and we look forward to sharing this

 journey with you for years to come.

With thanks from the Ubuntu Team.