World Cup Challenge kicks-off at Schools in Cape Town

Despite the sudden drop in Cape Town weather last week, children’s hearts were being warmed, when Step-Up 4 Life launched the World Cup Challenge at two high schools in Cape Town, South Africa.

Although some of our learners were still consumed with the demands of the end of the examination week, they selflessly put their mathematical theories, and scientific formulas aside to engage in our World Cup Challenge’s kick-off workshop.


Learners, ranging from grades 8 to 10, at Zwaanswyk and Cape Town High School, gathered at their computer stations and wrote preliminary emails to their friends from Roosevelt Middle School and Lighthouse Middle School in California. With restrained and excited urgency, they carefully typed in their personal login details and began eagerly introducing themselves with such animated statements as:


“I am so excited to hear from you!”


“I have never been overseas!”


“You can come and visit us in Cape Town!”


“Bafana Bafana is going to win the World Cup!


These were just some of the comments I read while glancing across the room of keen young learners typing carefully to their new friends. Interviewing some of the children revealed their bubbling excitement:


Keshia Ruiters, Grade10, cannot wait to make new friends. She is curious about what children from other places go through as teenagers, and wants to encourage them if they have any issues. She also wants to be able to “take the World Cup to them” through her correspondence, as they are unable to be here in person.


Adam Cope in Grade 10 wants to make sure that they know “we are not living in a forest” and that we are actually educated! He is also keen to discover whether or not the things he sees on TV about Americans are true!


As I watched these young learners, it struck me that I was witnessing the beginning of potentially life-changing friendships for them. For many, the dream of making a long-lasting friendship with someone from another continent was now suddenly a reality. This international friendship will help instil the confidence, and encouragement required to prove that they too have something to offer the world, that they too play a vital role in society.


And this is just the beginning of this fantastic initiative!