This last weekend's experience will forever be remembered vividly by the Youthzones team and the lovely community of Jane Furse.

What was supposed to be a very long and tiresome 4 hour journey from Evaton North to Jane Furse, turned to be a very exciting trip filled with love, care and humour. You should have heard the singing, the jokes, important discussions and sharing of ideas to improve our work. Our loving broer & leader in the journey, Doc, would frequently ask if we were ok and if we needed anything. You are an inspiration bro!! Upon our arrival in JF, I was so amazed to discover how positively this team's presence impacted to that community. From the elderly to the toddlers, I felt the emotion and power of togetherness by how we were received. Many might not see or believe it but Youthzones is doing great work and is effectively bringing people together as well as developing the communities. Those in the field will always have a very clear insight of this.

Onto the soccer tournament, I was very impressed by the huge turnout that came to witness this Youthzones event. I saw first hand, how sporting activities could bring people from all walks of life together. Those who saw me mingling with people there could never have thought that I was a foreigner. Language could be a barrier but I discovered that those barriers can be broken through that power of togetherness that existed amongst us. The level of talent that was exhibited was awesome. It was nice seeing the older guys taking part in some of the games, they always had a word or two to advise the youngsters in several aspects of the game like discipline, etc. I was slightly disappointed when our tournament was disrupted  by teams from the higher and richer league who bulldozed their way into the pitch, and in the process delaying the final. I think this is an area of concern as I believe the community should have first preference to these facilities. Nevertheless, it was a platform for the youngsters to learn one or two things, which I guess they did. There was also drama as the referee of that league game received a thorough hiding for poor or can I say biased officiating!!! I will never condone violence but I believe corruption and match-fixing could have detrimental effects to the 'world's most beautiful game' here in Africa. The responsible authorities really need to seriously look into such issues.

After the tournament, we had quality time to interact with the community as we shared several things, listening to their plights and challenges. When the time to leave came, I was so touched with the emotion that gripped the place as some openly cried as they tried to come to terms with our team's departure. This clearly showed the effectiveness of the work being done. I already miss those moments.