Skukuza – South African National Parks (SANParks) has teamed up with the Dreamfields Project to merge the seemingly unlikely worlds of conservation and soccer for the benefit of young people in communities around the national parks.
The three-year partnership with Dreamfields, SANParks and People and Conservation (P&C) unit is called “Wild About Soccer” and is aimed at engaging young people at the level of their passion – football.
Starting from Saturday, 6 September, school teams from communities on the borders of the world-renowned Kruger National Park will participate in a series of “Wild About Soccer” tournaments culminating in a final tournament on 4 October in Skukuza.
The Dreamfields Project joined forces with SANParks and P&C to bring the “Wild About Soccer” tournaments to these secluded communities. Every tournament within this project will be an opportunity to educate young people about conservation and the environment.
Dr David Mabunda, Chief Executive Officer of SANParks endorsed, the project by saying “The best way to get young people to understand and develop respect for the environment in conservation areas is to start by making positive and visible changes in the environments where they live.”
John Perlman, founder of the DreamFields Project sees the partnership with SANParks “as a way of changing the social make up in marginalised communities.
“Wild About Soccer” , he says is not just about the beautiful game, it’s about using sport as means of building knowledge about, and respect for, something worth preserving – our natural heritage.”
Dreamfields will provide DreamBags containing a complete soccer kit to the participating schools for continued development of their learners through the game of soccer. “As a start, we will be handing out DreamBags filled with soccer kits for tournaments in rural communities, but our long term goal is to help fix up some fields in villages bordering on our parks. We are wild about this project, and wild about our partnership with SANParks,” said Perlman.
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