Building Grassroots

Since the first stage of recruiting coaches back in October, Grassroot Soccer has been making great strides in Soweto with their efforts to use soccer to educate and inspire African children.

In just a few short months, candidates became coaches and coaches became heroes.

November last year Grassroot Soccer held its first Skillz program with 35 youngsters from the Pimville (Soweto) Football Association. In December it was 63 children, with more than 100 showing up for free Voluntary Counselling & Testing (VCT) for HIV.

One of the coaches is Mmabatho Kgabo.

"Grassroot Soccer has taught me so much," she says. "And now I get to teach that to others. The information I received about HIV/Aids from Grassroot Soccer was life changing. It caused me to change my behavior as a young person, get tested, and keep my status Negative."

Now Mmabatho works for Grassroot. "I get to work with the most amazing kids," she says. "The change you can make is immediate. They tell me how I changed their lives, and it reminds me that this is important work."