Tuesday, June 16 - South African Youth Day - The Hope Cup

Packing up in the morning for the day, I realize my wallet is lost. In it I had my license, American Express Card and $300 American dollars. Retracing my steps, I realize when it happened. Last night at half time, Matthew and I went to the concession stand. I had taken out some Rand to pay for the food in the midst of quite a crowd that was pushing everyone against the counter, but I didn’t close my purse (I was wearing a fanny pack in the front) when I was ordering and paying. Someone had reached in and plucked out my wallet without me even feeling a thing. A hard lesson learned – shouldn’t have had so much money on me – don’t know what I was thinking. Credit card cancelled, new license when I get back to the states, don’t even want to think about the money loss.

Today is National Youth Day, the day we've been waiting for, and we are on our way to Mamelodi for the Hope Cup – a day that Bridge to Cross has been planning for months. Before we even arrived, a biking tournament was held earlier this morning. We arrived at Retabile field (situated on the outskirts of Mamelodi) at about 9:00am, and the place is teaming with activity. A tennis tournament is in full swing, a music stage was being constructed by the bleachers, Bridge to Cross banners flank the main soccer field, five tents house hospitality centers, and a paramedic van is on site as well. American Express and Uhlsport (a sporting goods manufacturer) helped sponsor the event, and their advertising banners are hung field-side.





Amy & Moses watching
the tennis tournament









Three boys taking part in the tennis tournament

The first game of the soccer tournament is in motion; the Umlazi team against the S.O.S. Children’s Village team. Both teams are in full uniform, with the Umlazi team’s jerseys donning 'SONY' on the front. I learn later they have had several sets of donated uniforms, and that Sony had sponsored these for the kids. Umlazi is a township near Durban, which is on the east coast of Africa, and a popular vacation spot for South Africans. Neil Daniels, a South African native who now lives in the states, recruited the Umlazi team. Much like Bridge to Cross, Neil (or Scooby as everyone calls him), is interested in bringing hope to the children in the townships of South Africa. Scooby travels to South Africa several times a year to work with the team and volunteers in Umlazi. He and Dave Woeste met by 'chance' in the US earlier this year, and the rest is history.

Watching these boys play soccer is amazing. Their passion, hours of play time and practice, as well as love of the game, show spectacular performances on the field. The Bridge to Cross team from Mamelodi size up their competition as they watch the game unfold. The girls from Umlazi, who had performed the stomp dance yesterday at S.O.S. Village is on the sidelines cheering on their team. Our US/Bridge to Cross team is warming up with Coach Dave and Coach Terry.

Just prior to the opening ceremonies, reporters from the Pretoria News and the Citizen arrive. Marnus does an excellent job detailing the foundational elements of Bridge to Cross and the order of events for the day. The opening ceremony then begins with Dave reading the proclamation from the mayor of Cincinnati declaring June 16 Mamelodi Day in Cincinnati. The morning's cycling winner receives his medal and the Mamelodi girls' soccer team recieve theirs too. The US and Mamelodi teams walked over the bridges and shook hands, Mirka did a fantastic job singing both the South African and American national anthems. David Kisor played his newly written Bridge to Cross song and Frikkie shared some inspirational thoughts about the day.















Dave Woeste reads Mayor Mallory's Proclamation









U.S. team and Mamelodi
team crossing the bridge






















Cycling winner being awarded his medal
























Victorious girls Mamelodi
soccer team receive their medals






























Three metal bridges, forged in the states, are front and center of the ceremony. A black one, a white one and a red one are arranged in a row with the red one in the center. The US boys walked across all three bridges beginning on the black side, the Mamelodi team did the same from the white side. When they met in the middle on the red bridge, they shook hands signifying that we need to cross the bridge from black to white and white to black and form relationships that will positively impact, not only the lives of the children needing help, but our own lives as well.

Later in the day I am privileged to meet Mamelodi Stars tennis Coach Solomon who regularly mentors over 100 kids in his tennis program. In today’s tournament, 60 kids from the tennis club are competing. Many children are here to watch their friends in the competition, and are very vocal when a good shot or a miss takes place.

An awesome and generous lunch was served up by Tina and Frikkie for the Bridge to Cross crew. They also fed a slew of kids in attendance of the event – over 600 children in all. Phenomenal. After lunch, I had the pleasure of finally meeting Mirka, South African recording artiste and star, whose husband Michael I had the pleasure of meeting earlier this year while he visited in the states. She did a fantastic job performing throughout the day. When she met Matthew, she immediately invited him to perform with her on stage to perform, and they sang three songs together! Mathew was thrilled and I was so proud of him. Mattie Koen also got his time in the spotlight, playing some awesome drums on stage.





Mzwake, Angelo and Matthew

David Kisor did his 'thing' on stage while a group of enthusiastic kids gathered to learn and sing his songs with him. The children of the S.O.S. Village have arrived and Matthew and I were very happy and surpised to see our friend Angelo from the day before. Some of the other children have a surprise for David Kisor. He taught them a song yesterday called "We Are One World". The lyrics continue; "I'm part of one world, I'm part of a family, I'm part of one world, one world for me." They translated it into their native language of Sutu and sang it for him. It was so beautiful. (Listen below)

Next, Mirka took the stage and wowed the crowd with her amazing voice and stage presence. Her arsenal of songs included some old favorites familiar to all and a collection of some of her own beautiful compositions, many of which are on her most recent album; Still Standing. She graciously invited Matthew up on stage and they performed three songs together.


Mirka rocks it out










Matthew joins Mirka to
rock it out together













Afterwards, Mirka announced the Mamelodi Idols competition near the end of the day. Some kids eagerly signed up, while others were interested, but needed a little encouragement. In all, I think 15 kids sang. There were a couple of good performances, but I think Simon Cowell would have had a field day on these kids – no pun intended. The kids from the S.O.S. Village won hands down, but we’ll have to wait and see what Universal Studios thinks.


U.S. team on the field after their victory











All soccer teams in the tournament; our U.S.A. Bridge to Cross team, the Bridge to Cross Mamelodi team, S.O.S. Children's Village team and the Umlazi team fought tough and hard in the tournament throughout the day. Our U.S.A. team was victorious in the end beating the S.O.S. Village team in the final game with a score of 1-0. The scores of the first three games were; 1-0, 2-0, and 1-0. They were unstoppable.

Dave & crew proudly hold
their trophy up high
In the closing ceremonies, our U.S.A. team was awarded a special first place Hope Cup trophy; a wood carving made by a local artisan (see photo). Second place medals were awarded to the S.O.S. Village team by the US team as each passed over the bridges and met in the middle (see photo). The real victory won today is the mark Bridge to Cross made on the Mamelodi community and acting out their mission statement; bringing hope by connecting people.



Killian awarding an S.O.S.
boy a 2nd place medal