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About OPERATION KEEP SPORTS IN SCHOOLS
Christain David and Steenberg Primary are two schools located in the Steenberg area of Cape Town, South Africa.
Christian David, ran by the church, has not been renovated in over 50 years. The playground is a gravel lot meant for parking cars. When it rains the kids play is gravel puddles about ankle high with no cares in the world. At home, they live in a state of extreme poverty in shacks (what they call houses) that would cost Americans less than $500 to buy.
Steenberg Primary is a little better off. It is funded by the government so it enjoys renovations but lacks all sporting equipment. When I went to volunteer at Steenberg Primary most of the sporting equipment available to students was provided by Volunteers. All other equipment was property of the teachers and only taken out for their specific class to use.
At school the kids get 2 intervals (recesses) where they can eat their lunch and play. During this time they eat an excess amount of sugar and go back to class with tons of energy bursting through the seams. With sports equiptment we hope that some of the kids will stear away towards buying sweats during lunch and/or be able to exert their energy during recess and be more attentive during class. Furthermore, we hope that with access to sporting equiptment the children can have proper afterschool clubs and stear away from drug and gang life.
Our goal is to raise $900 (R9,000) to purchase new sporting equiptment that will be less likely to break/pop so we can provide children with a way to exert energy during recess and have gear for after school clubs. While in South Africa I made the mistake of purchasing 4 basketballs that were lower priced and in a matter of two weeks, all four balls were popped. Another volunteer I worked with, Dan Hovey, bought 3-4 soccer balls for the school and all the lower priced balls popped in a matter of a week. The ball that he splurged on, that's his legacy.
What We Need & What You Get
We set a lower goal than our original goal to fundraise because we didn't know if this would be successful or not and wanted to test it first. Our ultimate goal would be to raise money to provide balls, pumps, jumpropes, and proper high jump equipment. We chose these items because these are the sports that the children wildly enjoy and will grab their attention.
To express why we need $900 we are going to breakdown the cost of sporting goods (go to http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.co.za) and http://www.myaaeworld.com/product.cfm?product=179
Netball: $23 (R230)
Basketball: $33 (R330)
Soccerball: $20 (R200)
Jump Rope: $6 (R60)
Pump: $12 (R120)
Basketball hoops (2): $120/ea (R1,200)
High Jump cross bar: $87 (R870)
High jump bar: $1,150 (R11,500)
Alternative High Jump bar: Cost: £294.00 inc. VAT ($462) (R4,620)
If we hit the $900 goal we will be buying 30 skipping ropes (jump ropes), 6 Netballs, 6 Basketballs, 6 soccerballs, 2 Baskteball hoops, and 2 Ball pumps. These will be distributed equally among both of the schools.
If we could raise an extra $600 we would like to invest in buying the high jump equipment. The school already has mats for the kids to jump on and, while these are ripped and need replacing, we would rather not be too greedy in our plight.
Why doesn't it fully add to $900? Because of the fees from Indiegogo and paypal. If we account for these two fees we raised our goal to $900 so we would be able to still provie the $800 towards the equipment.
And that’s all there is to it.
