Barefoot and armed with a cheeky grin, 8-year-old Snethemba jumps off the bus and makes a beeline for Coach Mogagabe – his favourite coach. He flings his arms around Mogagabe and quickly launches into a rundown of his life since their last soccer session.

Snethemba says that the bi-weekly soccer sessions are the highlight of his week, and if he didn’t attend them, he could be “getting up to mischief on the streets”

Twilight Children’s Shelter are involved with the Hillbrow project, an ambitious project launched by Bidvest Wits FC in May at the John Orr Technical School, in partnership with Hillbrow SAPS and the Netherlands Embassy.

Twilight Children’s, where Snethemba's is from, is a home for 846 orphaned and abandoned children.

The project involves 20 South African soccer legends who train policemen as community coaches with soccer and life skills, to work with children from 7 schools and 6 shelters in and around Hillbrow.

It aims to prevent crime and promote youth development.

Inspector Malope from the Hillbrow SAPS said, “The project targets at-risk children and youth. Most of the children come from broken or dysfunctional homes. They need guidance and positive role-models.”

Malope said that since the project started, the number of crime complaints against stabbings and muggings in Hillbrow has dropped. He said the attitude of the youth they worked with had also changed

“They now drop by the police station and tell us how things are going; if they are getting into trouble or not, how things are at home. They now confide in us and trust us,” he said.

Bi-weekly sessions are organised at different venues.

On Wednesday, members from the Hillbrow SAPS joined coaches, Edison Sithole, Ernest Makhanya and Isaac Mogagabe to train children from the Twilight Children’s Shelter.

The children are enthusiastic and eager to impress their coaches. Coach Isaac Mogagabe said, “Most of them see us as father figures.”

A lot of the children say that they want to play for Bafana Bafana and that if it wasn’t for the clinics they would not have realised that this could be a realistic goal for them.

Stan Whiting, CEO of Bidvest Wits FC, said the club had a responsibility towards the development of the youth in South Africa.

“What better way to start this than the area closer to the club’s home base, where we can decrease crime,” Whiting said.

With the World Cup around the corner, ordinary South Africans can also benefit. This project will hopefully take the pressure off teachers and parents, while the participation of youth in sport will keep them off the streets.

Whiting said the project would go beyond 2010, keeping it sustainable and including more kids as it grows.
Bursaries will be awarded to children showing academic potential and players that shine on the field will be recruited in to the Bidvest Wits Football Academy.