South Africa has been a land of dreams since 1994. Sadly many of those dreams have been shattered.
And each time a new dream comes along I wonder if this, too, will end in tears.
These were my thoughts when a letter arrived from one Greg James announcing the launch of the JAG Sports and Education Foundation of which he is CEO.
People who think that sport can offer an alternative to drugs and gangsterism are two a penny. It’s been tried before and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
In this instance, however, internationally renowned athlete and Olympic medalist, Elana Meyer heads up the foundation.
It’s a truism that the future of any country – ours in particular – depends on nourishing and bringing up our children.
As Meyer points out, ensuring protection from the devastating harm of drugs and gangsterism is essential, and one way to do this is to give the young opportunities to be fit and healthy, to increase their self-worth and to help them focus on their studies.
The foundation has also enlisted the support of Gayton McKenzie, a motivational speaker and former prison gang leader, who, after exposing corruption in prisons, has now dedicated his life to turning youngsters away from crime.
So far so good, but who is Greg James? According to a biographical note he’s a businessman with a sports obsession. An obsession that runs to iron man triathlons, Two Oceans ultra-marathons, cycling with Lance Armstrong on the Tour of Courage in Canada.
He says things like: “Sports development goes a long way to uplifting a country. Not only is it a unifying force among members of a community, but it also contributes to a sense of pride in one’s identity as a South African.”
After 12 years in Switzerland managing mergers and acquisitions for Glencore International’s coal division, James came home and last year put together an investment company called the JAG Investment Group which specialises in “business acquisitions and turnarounds with an emphasis on mid-to long-term investment opportunities such as property development and mid-tier mining”.
Companies they’ve hooked up with include The Cycle Lab, an established cycling retailer; Mac Mac Construction with divisions in plumbing reticulation, construction and plant hire; Old Acres Property Development, a retirement estate in KwaZulu-Natal; and MacLeod Properties in Constantia.
James is a family man and understandably has a dream for those with little or no chance in life.If there is a measure of his dreams then it has to come from some of his beneficiaries.
One of those is Bennett Cekiso from Gugulethu. Cekiso, too, has a dream. He wants to study and be qualified. He wants to be among the world’s best fitness trainers coaching professional athletes.
To listen to Cekiso is to understand his dream, to be caught up in his enthusiasm. When you consider that he comes from that “township situation” where the opportunities for making good are few and far between, then the excitement in his voice is worth hearing.
Cekiso’s already training street children in soccer at the Best Centre in Rondebosch but this is merely a beginning for him.
“My ultimate goal is to have my own coaching academy that trains soccer coaches,” he says.That he has been selected as one of ten sponsored students on the JAG co-sponsored FIT Principles course is to Bennett Cekiso ‘unbelievable’. Such an opportunity is something he dared not dream about in case it didn’t happen.
As he put it, “Where do I get the money for something like that?”So he gets sponsorship and training. At the end of it receives a diploma and has the knowledge to train others. This is part of his dream.
The hard issue is that we live in a country where every dream has to be given a chance simply because it might work. That people’s lives get put on the line as these dreams play out is the nature of our society.
Yet we can’t stop dreaming. Some schemes have gone bad but that does not mean that the next upliftment scheme won’t work.And when you speak to a Bennett Cekiso you realise it’s best to put the scepticism aside and wait and believe that this time things will be different.
The JAG Sports and Education Foundation was launched in Cape Town on April 3, 2007.
Mike Nicol is a Cape Town based journalist and author.
Source: Weekend Argus, April 07 2007
Author: Mike Nicol
Contact Information:
info@jagfoundation.com
0027 021 7027880