The second volunteer is new to all of us, but he fits right in like family. Ben Pflederer is a 19-year-old, USA soccer fanatic with a gnarly beard that makes him look like Moses. He comes from Indianapolis, Indiana from a family of four. He is the son Kevin and Debbie Pflederer. He currently attends Vanderbilt University in good old Nashville, Tennessee. He loves soccer and Jesus. What do you need more for Ubuntu, a ministry orchestrated around Jesus but uses soccer as a tool to draw in kids. At Vanderbilt, Ben is currently undecided with his major but with his great wisdom he will do great things in college. We can’t wait to use his excitement and unique humor for the Ubuntu ministry.

Here are some more things about Ben #2:

Why did you come to Africa: Trying to trust God by following him and learning what he has to teach me.

Most inspiring scripture for you: Luke 9:23-24

Most inspiring quote: “One of the greatest lies that you can live by is that life is a story about me.”

Add to Mt. Rushmore: Denzel Washington

Favorite thing about South Africa so far: The natural beauty. It’s incredible.

Favorite Book: Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper

Mentor in your life: My parents, David Brown, and Andy Blasius

Favorite Clothing: U.S. Soccer Jersey

Favorite Soccer Player: Michael Bradley

Favorite National Team: USNT

Favorite Club Team: Chicago Fire and Fulham FC

Favorite Soccer Coach: Bob Bradley

Nike or Adidas: Adidas

Favorite Food: Buffalo Wings

Thing you miss the most about home: Sanitation

Favorite band or musical artist: Jon Mclaughlin

We want to introduce our newest volunteers who have recently arrived in Cape Town, South Africa. Andy Chenlo has been here for about 7 months so we decided to pull in some more help for Ubuntu Sports Outreach. Our first volunteer is no stranger to the Prince household, the one and only Ben Cash. He is planning to stay in South Africa for about 6 months helping with Ubuntu while at the same time taking classes at the local university. Ben Cash is the son of Roxie and Tom Cash, with two brothers and a lovely sister Caboose (Emily). He also graduated from Millbrook, however he did not play soccer. But with lots of optimism, he plans to learn as much as he can while in South Africa. After graduation he headed off to UNC-Wilmington to study and surf. He studies Communication Studies and Journalism while at college. In Wilmington, Ben helps out with a local church in the youth group. Ben loves kids and loves God so he will be a great asset to our ministry. He will be serving with us until November, so we are excited for the adventures to come.

Here are some more things about Ben Cash, known here as Ben #1:

Why did you come to Africa: God is funny when he throws you into these unexpected adventures. You don’t have to really understand why he works the way he does, you just have to answer the calling that he places in your heart and fulfill it. Africa was an awesome opportunity for ministry and school that was presented to me. I want to match the calling of God to the needs of the South African people.

Most inspiring scripture for you: Galatians 2:20

Most inspiring quote: "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." -C.S. Lewis

Add to Mt. Rushmore: Benjamin Franklin

Favorite thing about South Africa so far: The people are awesome and approachable. Also, it gives you an innate sense to not have expectations of the way people should act which makes it more exciting to share the good news.

Favorite Book: The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Mentor in your life: My brothers

Favorite Clothing: Zip-up hoodies

Favorite Clothing Brand: Fila

Country you would most like to visit: Ireland

Favorite Movie: The Hurt Locker

Favorite Food: Loaded Mashed Potatoes

Favorite Drink: Chocolate Milk

Favorite Dessert: Strawberry shortcake

Thing you miss the most about home: Warm ocean water. The water here is FREEZING!!

Favorite band or musical artist: Need to Breathe, Monk & Neagle, Punch Brothers, and Jurassic 5

Things are Heating up!

This week things are really going to be heating up. They will start team tryouts at Capricorn Primary on Tuesday with their coach, Grayson. Really excited about that. We will also start at Simon's Town Primary on Wednesday. We are having issues getting their coaches trained, so Andy and I will be getting things started there. Ukhanyo Primary should get started this week with Desmond and Tondazo. And hopefully Marine Primary will get started later this week with Pastor Freddy and Edmund.

We are training coaches from Sharon AOG in Capricorn this Saturday. They will be working at Christian David Primary School. We still need a church partner for Zirilda Park Primary. And I think we have to reconsider our church parter with Kleinberg Primary in Ocean View. It doesn't look like it's going to work out for them. But, God willing, that will happen this week!

Cheers,

Casey

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

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

Spreading the Word

Our good friend Jock does leadership training and consulting. He was recently at a meeting for a healthcare company. Their dinner one night had a sports theme and they were supposed to wear the shirt of their favorite sports team. Well, Jock work his Ubuntu Sports Outreach shirt! How awesome is that?!?! What a great way to spread the word about the work we are doing!

Casey

TREC Experience

Last week Andy and I had an opportunity to be part of a coaching course called TREC: Training, Resourcing, and Equipping Coaches. This was provided by our friends at Ambassadors in Sport. It was a 5 day coaching experience that mixed a normal coaching course with sports ministry training. There were about 4o students from all sorts of different backgrounds. Obviously there were a lot of South Africans but also a few other Americans, an Englishmen, 3 Germans, and an Australian. The diversity made for such an interesting environment.

Although the soccer was very basic, because it was Level 1, it was such a great week. TREC is something that we are hoping ALL of our Ubuntu coaches will go through eventually. Because of that we thought it was important for us to experience it first.

And, you can be encouraged, I did score a '1' on my coaching assessment, which is the highest score, so I do know what I'm doing!

Casey