28 Feb 2016

The South East District Youth Empowerment Association (SEDYEA) has been invited to partake in the 2016 Streetfootballworld festival. 

The tournament will be held in June this year in Lyon, France. The executive director of SEDYEA Kitso Masi said in an interview that they have been a part of the Streetfootballworld network since 2009.

He said the Streetfootballworld is a network of organisations that use football as a tool to promote social change and reach out to young people.

The team that will be representing SEDYEA will be made up of six members, a delegation leader, a young leader and four participants. He said the participants will be aged between 15 and 18 years and they will comprise of two boys and two girls.

Masi said participants will be selected from a group of 2 000 youngsters under the programme. He said the selection is not going to be based on football skills but rather on their participation during activities and progression throughout the programmes at SEDYEA.

Masi said in 2014 a team of nine people from SEDYEA went to Brazil for the Streetfootballworld festival. The entire trip was funded by FIFA. He said the France trip is different as the network is in partnership with a different entity.

Tlotlo Kgoleng, a 14-year-old boy who joined the SEDYEA programme when it started in 2008, was part of the team that went to Brazil. He said he learnt a lot of new things about football in Brazil and made new friends.

Aobakwe Mogope is another 14-year-old boy who joined the programme at the same time as Tlotlo Kgoleng.

He however has not been part of a team that went abroad but is determined to head off to Lyon next year. He said that his friend’s narration of the trip to Brazil motivates him to work harder.  ENDS