Recreation group seeks sponsorship for the youth

Juru Enterprises, in partnership with Xcellence Kids, held a carnival and market day in the park on September 30, aiming to endorse community upliftment.

According to Rudolf Dragt, the goal is to introduce and promote athletics to the neighbourhood’s young people.

“By attempting to develop youth-oriented activities, we hope to improve the community.

“The park has been locked for so many months, and we started a junior soccer team that has expanded from six children to more than 20 at this time to create a safe environment for the youth.

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“To establish a comfortable environment where the children can enjoy games, we would like to expand and offer netball for the girls, too.

“Sports help children avoid making poor decisions and keep them off the streets.

“The park was locked, so all the youngsters you see playing on the field have been playing soccer on the streets,” said Dragt.

He said children are the future and that if they did get proper examples at a young age, they might choose the wrong path.

He said before the effort, the park was always locked, and now it is open daily from 09:00 to 16:00.

“Our primary worry was the municipality’s desire to demolish the park because it had been closed for a long time.

The municipality also wants to remove the restrooms, but we are attempting to block them because we cannot organise activities without bathrooms.

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“Everyone engaged volunteered their time, and neither I nor the recreation committee group have benefited financially from this project. We are acting in the children’s best interests and that of the cause.”

Dragt said they aim to uplift the community, which was the driving force behind the decision to take matters into their own hands.

Dragt said he was disheartened to hear ward committee members say they would not support the event.

“The sad thing is we have a committee responsible for this, but they do not support us.”

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“They sent me a message stating they won’t support the event because I should have involved them in the planning for the event.

“Since I went through the proper means to organise the event and contacted Clr Desmond McKenzie and other stakeholders, I thought this irrelevant.

The children were the target audience, not me. In my opinion, they ought to have come and supported us.

“We need people in our community willing to take part in something. Everything starts with a handful of people for something to get done,” he added.

“We want the municipality to maintain the park. We have volunteer ladies who will train the girls in netball. Things are adding up, but we need support and finances,” said Dragt.

“We wanted to put together soccer and netball matches for the children to keep them off the streets,” said the director of Juru Enterprises, Judy Loubser.

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Loubser said they have operated for two months and need sponsorships.

The children need soccer boots, equipment and clothing.

McKenzie said the event was a good community initiative. He said he had indicated to the organisers that he would add the event to the Integrated Development Plan.

“The community has also requested we look at all the Norkem Park and Birchleigh North parks,” said Mckenzie.