Learners at FF Ribeiro Primary School returned to cleaner sports grounds today following a weekend clean-up by the Mamelodi A4 Foundation.

The initiative on October 3 marked the first step in a broader effort to restore and revitalise the Mamelodi West school’s sporting facilities.

It is part of the foundation’s commitment to improve access to safe and functional sporting facilities for children in Mamelodi.

Restoring grounds to former glory

The foundation’s deputy chairperson, Dougie Matjeni, said its mission includes rehabilitating school sports grounds and expanding access to quality sporting opportunities, with the refurbishment and upgrading of public school sporting facilities identified as a central objective.

“Cleaning the facility and restoring what we can at this stage are crucial first steps towards our ultimate objective. [That is] of restoring the entire sporting facility to its former glory and creating a safe, functional and vibrant space for the children of FF Ribeiro Primary School and the surrounding community,” said Matjeni.

Matjeni said it was equally important to ensure the facility was clean and usable when learners returned to school today.

“This ensured that the restoration journey could begin with tangible improvements to the existing environment while the foundation continues pursuing the longer-term rehabilitation of the facility.”

A platform for community growth

The work at FF Ribeiro Primary School is in response to a broader challenge facing children in the community.

The foundation has identified limited access to organised sport and poorly maintained sporting facilities at schools in Mamelodi West as an important community need.

The foundation’s vision is to create safe, vibrant and well-resourced sporting spaces, using sport as a platform for personal development, community unity and opportunity.

“We understand that the complete restoration will be a journey, but what matters is that the work has begun,” Matjeni said.

The clean-up and initial restoration activities have laid the groundwork for the foundation’s longer-term ambition to progressively rehabilitate the entire sporting facility and create a sustainable space where children can play, compete, develop their talents and participate in structured sporting activities.

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