Last Day of Festivals

Today was the third and final day of festivals in Joburg. We were all very excited to see what impact the last two days of festivals have had on the four different areas we have been working in.

The Chaneng team had stayed in Rustenburg overnight and so started their festival earlier at 11am to finish as the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony started. There were so many kids at the festival, especially in the centre games. Six young people from the local church, who had been part of the team from the first festival, were really keen to see their community changed and to continue what the team had started. What was nice was that after 3 days, the team had really been accepted into the community and it was just like being with family when they watched the opening ceremony and game with the locals.
In Brixton, the team had a really great time as there was a real sense of celebration for everyone at the festival now that South Africa’s big moment had arrived. Everyone regardless of race, skin colour, religion, or gender joined together at the festival as one – proudly South African. It was a special moment to be part of.

Despite some tireless organising by Rachel and Dave, the Alexandra teams didn’t get to their festivals sites until 3pm – 4 hours after the festival should have started – because of some unreliable taxi services, which was a disappointing for many. However, we did get to run 30 mins of centre games at both the Alex Creche and Stadium Carpark, and also got to say goodbye to the many friends we had made over the past 3 days.
And of course, the first day of the FIFA World Cup wouldn’t have been complete without watching the opening game of South Africa vs Mexico. So we all gathered, except the Chaneng crew, at a local park to watch the game on a big screen with some 10,000 South Africans who couldn’t have been more excited. Everyone seemed to have a Vuvuzela and were putting them to good use – what an atmosphere!