Monday, April 19, 2010

Training Update

Our first training went well on Saturday. Had the guys that will coach at Marine Primary and Ukhanyo Primary. We mostly focused on ministry stuff. This weekend we should have most of the rest of the coaches there, along with these guys. We'll be focusing more on the soccer stuff and actually walking through the first 3-4 Ubabalo lessons. We'll talk through the Life Skills components, give them actual drills & games to use to further develop the life skill idea, and then talk about the Bible devotion. I'm really excited about using the Ubabalo curriculum. It was created locally so it will be culturally relevant and creative. You can check it out at: www.ubabalo2010.com.

We hadn't shared the news that we have 7 schools signed on to be our partners. That's amazing news!! They are Marine Primary (Ocean View), Kleinberg Primary (OV), Ukhanyo Primary (Masiphumelele), Simon's Town School, Capricorn Primary, Christian David Primary (Capricorn), and Zirilda Park Primary (Capricorn/Sea Winds). We met a pastor yesterday to try and find the church partner for Christian David. Now we need to find the partner for Zirilda Park. Pray that God would provide these churches. These schools and keen and excited!

We'll give you an update again next week after training!

Casey

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

April News

We are starting training for our first wave of coaches this Saturday. Over 2 weekends we'll focus on ministry and soccer coaching. I'm really excited to be closer to the point where boys lives will be impacted by the coaching mentor involved in their life. There are some nerves in finally getting started, but mostly just serious excitement.
Pray for the training and also that we will find 2 more churches that want to invest in the Capricorn area. Some schools were slow to the table there, so we are looking hard for churches. We need churches for Zirilda Park Primary and Christian David Primary. Both need men mentoring boys there.
Ubuntu is busy planning a festival for the entire valley for May. This area is so divided by demographics, culture, and frankly color of our skin. We are using the World Cup as our "excuse" to draw all the communities together. We have gathered leaders from different churches all over to help drive this thing. We made some big decisions this week and crunch time is on. We're really excited about "ONE VALLEY FESTIVAL: Celebrating the World Cup Together". Pray that things would come together quickly as it is scheduled for the end of May!
Keep updated on our family and the amazing work that my wife, Sarah, is doing on our blog: www.caseyandsarahafrica.blogspot.com. She is doing amazing work with women in Ocean View.

Cheers,
Casey