As (most of) you probably know I have been living and working in D’kar, Botswana, for about eight months now. And I have seriously lost my heart to this tiny village and its (mainly) San population (for background information on the San/Bushmen in Botswana, and their marginalized social-economic position in the country, please see a.o: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,,CHRON,BWA,,469f386e88,0.html).
In my wonderful and very challenging work with the Community Health Team of the local (San-owned) Non-Governmental Organisation KFO (see www.kuru.co.bw) as well as when I talk to friends from the community I encounter lots of people, situations and projects that are in desperate need of (financial) support. And now I have found a project that I really want to get actively involved in, and I want to ask you to help me with that!
A complex dynamic of lack of opportunities for youth (with regards to jobs, education and free-time activities), lack of information and education (in local languages) about TB/HIV and other health issues, a general feeling of inferiority and lack of self-esteem (as a result of being part of a marginalized minority group) and a wide range of other challenges such as alcohol abuse (because what else are you supposed to do here when you are young, jobless and without any perspective or hope for improvements in the future?) and very risky sexual behavior as a result of all of these things cause a lot of the youth of D’kar to:
a) get infected with HIV
b) have children at a very young age (which obviously reduces their chances of getting an education and/or job even more, plus there is a lot of physical and psychological risks and challenges for a 12/13 year old pregnant girl)
c) develop very unbalanced ideas and behavior concerning gender relations, with a high incidence rate of domestic (sexual) abuse
d) lose faith and joy in life
I think all of this is really sad, unnecessary and disturbing. And it touches me that two of my friends here are trying to improve this situation with the little means they have. Freddy and Reginald are the managers of the two local soccer teams. In an effort to present the youth of their community with an alternative to boredom, bottomless drinking and hanging around and all of its consequences, they are actively and enthusiastically organizing trainings and competitions for their soccer teams, Ambassadors FC and Golden Lions FC respectively.
If you click on their names you will be able to read the letters in which Freddy and Regi personally ask for support for their teams (they have both been sending these letters out to all kinds of companies in Botswana in the hopes of receiving donations, but they haven’t had any success so far).
I want to help them and I need your help in turn!
So, I am going to run the Half Marathon of Texel (the island where I was born in Holland) on Sunday September 25th to raise money for the soccer teams of Freddy and Regi in D’kar (I will be visiting friends and family in Holland in September).
Half a marathon is 21 kilometers, and a soccer team has 11 players. With the money that I raise by running the 1/2 marathon I want to support two soccer teams in D’kar, so I decided I will be running 1 km on the island for every soccer player from D’kar (2x11 is 22 right:-). This means that after the official finish line I will run another round of 1 km through the centre of my home village Den Burg.
Would you like to support me and thereby support the 22 of D’kar?! If so, please send me an email (a.l.albers@gmail.com) and tell me the amount of money you want to sponsor my ’22 on Texel’ with! If I manage to complete the 22 km run (and I am confident I will, because I’m running this side in the Kalahari almost on a daily basis) then I will be able to give the 22 soccer players of D’kar a little money and a bit of hope when I get back to Botswana!
RE A LEBOGA!! THANK YOU!!!
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