Story

Nobody said it would be easy. With conditions not on our side,we (Sandon G, Charlie C, Ashton G, Phillip W, James C and Noah S) had no choice but to do the unthinkable or show mercy to the challenge we had laid out for ourselves. The challenge being 3 hours of extreme goal scoring and enthralling football, or as we like to call it, the insane game in the rain. Which had taken place at Merrifield College on the 7th of August for a duration of just over 3 hours.

This project was not merely raising funds for someone but rather creating a change for a brother, Ubuko Mpotulo who roams the same passages we do. 

Ubuko is a Grade 8 learner at Selborne College who  lives his life with disabilities due to him experiencing an unfortunate encounter with meningococcal septicemia at age two, causing him to lose both his legs. He also lost several fingers due to gangrene, leaving him with only his thumbs and index finger. He goes through his everyday life all but with some extreme difficulties, although his attitude and smile may not display that picture. His character and joyful nature is something extremely hard to believe, given his circumstances. To us, he is a true inspiration and is what has made this task immensely worthwhile and opened our eyes to a great cause right amidst us.

This cause or campaign being Goals4Lives, an outreach to boost quality of life for Ubuko by raising funds and awareness towards his prosthetic hand. We thought what better way than to bring this about through sport, a common ground for all backgrounds and walks of life. A place where everyone can share the same joy and excitement whilst still enduring a challenge in a competitive way. In more detail, we as a group of Grade 11 learners had planned out a project and campaign to raise and hopefully surpass our target of a R 1000 through scoring goals in a physically demanding soccer game of roughly 3 hours in length in the poorest of conditions.

Now we leave the ball at your feet. Why not make a change that will benefit someone’s life indefinitely? Worth the cause, we definitely think so. So we urge you, please pledge an amount per hour or kindly contribute a donation towards our campaign for Ubuko. Challenge yourself to make a difference because change starts with you. These funds and your input will go a long way in changing this young man’s life.