Cape Town kids’ cricket sanctuary as charity bats against poverty
In a poor place – where boys and girls can get caught up in crime and are overexposed to hardship – cricket has become a powerful weapon for overcoming childhood poverty in South Africa
READING LEVEL: ORANGE
There are many dangers and tough realities to life in Khayelitsha, an almost entirely Black African township on the outskirts of Cape Town.
Driving into the area, one sees hundreds of tiny corrugated* iron dwellings, packed like sardines, seemingly all with satellite TV dishes on their roofs.
Colourful signs advertise local tucker*, especially different roasted meat, or “braai” in Afrikaans*. One shop advertises multiple services that sound dubious* when sold together.
But across the compact, patchwork streets, a green astroturf haven appears.
CATCH Trust managing director Tim Human described that magic green carpet as an “oasis.”
This is where cricket is changing and probably saving lives in South Africa, while also helping develop a new generation of Proteas*, including kids who better reflect life in what anti-apartheid* activist and African leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu called “the rainbow nation” of South Africa’s ethnic and cultural diversity.
The CATCH Trust was founded in 2014 as the Gary Kirsten Foundation, named after the former Proteas opener and World Cup-winning coach of India.
While the Trust no longer carries his name, Kirsten remains heavily involved in the organisation, which has extended beyond its initial mandate* of providing cricket programs to children who otherwise couldn’t access them.
At any one time, CATCH educates and trains between 400 to 500 students, and has already helped develop South African under-19 female representative Sinelethu Yaso.
“We use cricket as the vehicle to bring kids in, and we’ve got amazing cricket programs, local coaches, facilities, and leagues and programs running, but above and beyond that, we also have various social impact initiatives,” Mr Human said.
“So we have a very strong women’s empowerment* program, including giving girls (personal sanitation wear) for playing, mental health programming, gender-based (anti-) violence programming for boys and girls … and then we’ve also grown very much in terms of training coaches.”
Coaching director Lusindiso Malilwana has been with CATCH for three and a half years and said the importance of the organisation’s contribution felt equivalent to two decades’ work.
Mr Malilwana said teenagers have been caught up in extortion* plots, substance abuse has infiltrated the community, and while apartheid was abolished* more than three decades, its shadow remains.
“It’s 90 per cent more or less Black population, but the wealth is still concentrated in historically white areas,” Mr Human said. “So there’s a big divide. So in South Africa, you will get amazing fields and facilities and schools, but they generally cater to the middle- to upper-class, who often are white or coloured.”
Schools in these kinds of township areas are under-resourced and require programs like CATCH to come in, raise money, build sporting fields and run the programs, Mr Human said.
“These kids come from very poor homes,” he said. “They’re often living with many family members in a small dwelling, eight to 10 people in one small space.
“(There’s a) lack of proper nutrition. They have to use public transport, which is really unsafe. There’s all sorts of (abuse), things like that. All the usual elements that poverty brings.”
The synthetic pitches at the facility represent more than just a chance to make runs and take wickets.
“We can just create a little safe haven, an oasis that we’re in here now, surrounded by an area that’s really poverty-stricken and underprivileged,” Mr Human said. “They feel safe here. They’re working with friends. They’re getting positive influences and a more carefree childhood.”
Funding is always a challenge. Kirsten’s name and hands-on role opens doors, but growing awareness is critical. Among the long-term aims is growing the number of Black players in the national South African side.
“Historically in South Africa, the only way for a Black player to get through has been to get a scholarship,” Mr Human said, citing the examples of Temba Bavuma and Lungi Ngidi.
“For every Temba Bavuma that gets plucked out, there’s 100 kids just as talented. But there’s all sorts of issues that come with the scholarship system.
“So our strategy is: can we bring the facilities and the coaching and the programs to them? Because 500 kids are not getting scholarships to privileged schools. You might get five to 10 across top schools. Maybe two or three per school. Great if they succeed, amazing. But we find that it’s just scratching the surface of the talent.”
POLL
GLOSSARY
- corrugated: when a material like sheets are iron or aluminium are folded into parallel rows that look like a series or waves or peaks and troughs when seen from the side
- tucker: slang term for food
- Afrikaans: one of the official languages of South Africa, closely related to Dutch due to colonisation by the Dutch in the 17th century
- dubious: thought not to be entirely trustworthy, inspiring doubt, uncertainty or reluctance
- apartheid: a system of keeping groups of people separate and treating them differently, especially when this segregation results in disadvantage for one particular group
- mandate: to give official permission for something to happen
- empowerment: gaining freedom and power to influence your own choices and future
- extortion: the act of getting something, especially money, by force or threats
- abolished: to officially end or completely get rid of an activity, law, system or practice
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QUICK QUIZ
- Who is credited with first calling South Africa “a rainbow nation” and what does it reflect?
- CATCH educates and trains how many students at any one time?
- Kids in these underprivileged townships often live in dwellings with how many others?
- The CATCH Trust was initially named after which former South African cricketer?
- What does “braai” refer to in Afrikaans?
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Comparing communities
After reading all the information in the Kids News article, and knowing your own local community, complete the table below comparing the two.
What are the main similarities and differences you identified?
Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Geography, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Extension
Draw or describe a place where you feel safe and supported.
What makes this place feel safe?
Who helps you there?
How do you feel when you are included in a group?
What can you do to help someone who feels left out?
Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Arts, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
VCOP ACTIVITY
Girls in sport
There are many sports in which we’re seeing an increase in female participants. What sports have you noticed, or maybe joined yourself, where you have seen an increase in the number of girls now playing? How do you feel about this? Why do you feel this way? Do you think it’s a positive shift? Why/why not?
Use your VCOP to express how you feel towards girls taking up more sporting roles. Explain why you feel this way. Use your emotive language to express your point of view.