News
2012-04-13
When you ask the young children who practice football each day at the Kamaqhekeza Stadium to tell you their names, the answers are surprising. And inspiring. One is called Messi and another calls himself Nani. “I’m Mario Balotelli,’ says a third and introduces us to his friends Xavi, Iniesta and Michael Essien.
These young footballers have big dreams and an appetite for hard work and training to go with it. And now they have a DreamField worthy of their efforts and dreams.
Back in October 2011 we told you about our plans to build a grass field in the Mpumalanga community of Kamaqhekeza, in the south-east corner of South Africa, close to the borders with both Swaziland and Mozambique. At the end of February 2012 we launched the facility in joyous style, with 22 school teams taking to the newly-laid grass, in new shirts and shorts, and out-of-the-box boots. And that DreamEvent took our spending in communities and schools past the R30-million mark.
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2012-04-03
While some people question the lasting value to grassroots football of hosting the World Cup, Safa’s 2010 LOC Legacy Project has been quietly making a dramatic difference to soccer in smaller towns and rural areas. And Dreamfields, thanks to the generosity of Edgars, is delighted to have made a contribution to this.
The Legacy Project has given a total of 27 communities an artificial pitch, complete with clubhouse and change rooms, facilities worth on average R6.5-million each. With Lotto funding driving the initiative, a total of around R170-million has been invested in growing the game from the bottom up.
“Our first goal was to address the backlog in facilities, by providing quality fields which would give football’s regional structures a home from which to develop and grow,” says Joe Carrim, manager of the Legacy Project.
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2012-01-10
At the end of another inspiring year of growing dreams through football, all we can say is thank you. We thank BHP Billiton for being our foundation, the rock on which everything we do is built. Thanks, too, to the many other partners who have invested in communities, schools and children, sharing DreamBags, grandstands and fields, and above all precious time and passion.
No dreams could ever grow without the energy provided by the Department of Basic Education – at national, provincial and district level. We’ve done great things with the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation and with the Development Bank of Southern Africa. We have now invested close on R30-million in townships and rural areas. And looking at our prospects for 2012, there is so much more to come.
The best way we can thank all you dream growers is to share with you how much pleasure we, the Dreamfields team, get from the work that you have enabled us to do. And so we’ve asked each of the team to share their favourite memory from 2011.
Thanks for making the growing of dreams possible.
The Moment: Dreamfields ran a programme of DreamEvents for young girls in partnership with the Provincial Government of the Western Cape. Eight schools played in a final tournament in Cape Town, and the winner was from Leeu-Gamka, a tiny Karoo town of just 4 000 people.
John Perlman’s Memory: “At the final whistle, the joy on the faces of the girls was unforgettable. But my fondest memory was chatting by phone to the coach, Mellyn Willemse, a few days later. He painted a vivid picture of the girls doing slow laps of honour round the town in the back of a bakkie, holding their trophy and medals high, with every child in the school running and cheering behind them. Dreamfields slogan is We Grow Dreams – I really wished I’d been there to see this made real in Leeu-Gamka.
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