World Cup to help SAfrica’s fight against AIDS; FIFA’s opens 1st Football for Hope center

WCup legacy to help Africa’s fight against AIDS

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The Football for Hope center is out to teach kids about more than just the “beautiful game.”

The first of 20 such centers across Africa opened Saturday, a day after the draw for next year’s World Cup, and 12-year-old Lihle Bonkolo was among the children who learned about soccer and combating AIDS.

Playing a game known as “Risk Field,” teams dribbled a soccer ball around a series of obstacles marked with AIDS-related signs. If they hit a cone, they got a red card and had to do sit-ups.

“It’s a good game. It teaches you a lot,” said Bonkolo, wearing large yellow T-shirt and practicing with former South Africa player Lucas Radebe. “Soccer is a good way to learn because it is fun.”

The game was played on shiny green artificial turf, making a sharp contrast to the surrounding gray shanties perched on the sandy dunes of Khayelitsha, a sprawling slum on the outskirts of Cape Town.

The project is part of FIFA’s “20 Centers for 2010″ campaign to build facilities to help young people in Africa. The next five centers will be built in Kenya, Namibia, Mali, Rwanda and Ghana.

“This center will use people’s passion for football to transform communities and to provide hope and opportunities for young people,” FIFA president Sepp Blatter said at the opening. “Many years from now, people will still be benefiting from this and the other centers.”

The center will be managed by Grassroot Soccer, an organization founded by professional players from neighboring Zimbabwe. It hopes to tap into Africa’s love for soccer to educate young people about HIV and AIDS.

Bonkolo, who wants to be scientist, said he has learned a lot about the disease that affects an estimated 5.7 million people in South Africa, more than any other country.

“I have learnt that you must love and play with a person with HIV and not discriminate against them,” he said with a serious look on his face.

AIDS is just one of the struggles faced by many of South Africa’s poor black youth. Poor schooling and high unemployment leaves them with little hope.

“This is a magnificent project,” Radebe said as he signed T-shirts for the children. “Youngsters face a terrible future. Football can give them the opportunity to learn, to empower themselves.”

Grassroot Soccer has reached more than 13,000 children in 13 African countries, and organizers say youngsters who go through their program are less likely to engage in risky behavior. They also become more understanding toward those with the disease.

“It teaches them to bounce back from their experiences,” said Gcina Mondi, one of the coaches. “I feel like there is hope.”

Khayelitsha is about 15 minutes from central Cape Town, where the World Cup draw was held Friday in a glittering ceremony featuring celebrities such as David Beckham and South African-born Oscar winner Charlize Theron.

But from the crumbling brick homes and corrugated iron shacks in Khayelitsha, there is no view of the swanky new stadium being built with panoramic views of the Atlantic coastline and the iconic Table Mountain.

Princess Mbatsa lives a few houses away from the new center, which has been built on a stretch of ground that had been a wasteland used by local criminals.

Until this year, the 53-year-old Mbatsa had been unemployed and unable to feed the seven grandchildren she looks after.

Today, she is employed as a community guard who keeps an eye on the center and ensures it is kept safe and not vandalized.

“I think the World Cup will change my life and my children’s lives,” she said, “and my country.”