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Getting and Staying Connected PDF Print E-mail
Friday, 25 June 2010 08:25

25

Jun

2010

I've spent the last few days at the Laureus Sport for Good Leadership Summit. It is both instructive and inspirational to see how other groups around the world are using sport to better their lives. Yesterday my day ended in a highlight when I not only had the chance to meet two old friends Pannos and Roy, but also Jürgen Greisbeck who started Streetfootballworld! All this networking made me think back to the early years in Manica.
About five years ago all of us in Manica thought we were the only group in the world struggling to mix our passion for football, our longing for community and our desire to uplift the youth! We felt isolated, a bit scared and overwhelmed; no one seemed to care about a small town in the middle of rural Mozambique. Nevertheless we stuck to it, worked hard and after many tears and smiles, GDM is in some ways now a good example of a Sport and Dev Program. Let me mention however, for everyone in Manica, this is not a program or project, it is simply our lives. Perhaps the GDM slogan should read: "thee are the days of our lives"!
I think back with gratitude to Mthoko Madonda from Laureus who was the first ‘big shot' to believe in us. He pointed us to Streetfootballworld and subsequently we even received a grant from the Foootball for Hope initiative! One of our networking highlights has been the Sony mentorship that was organised by Impact and Streetfootballworld.
In Mozambique, GDM is not even a First Division club, but when we talk development and changing lives, we seem to be playing Champions League! We are humbled and grateful to all of you who care. Today I will mention eleven of all the hundreds of names I want to thankand remember with gratitude: Julie, Wenke, Alec, Jean, Suzette, Walter, Adrie-Marie, Stefan, Tanya, Sanpat and Neels.
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