Judo discipline a hope for Alex youth
Alexandra pins its hopes on moulding responsible future citizens from its youth through judo.
The Ambassador of the Embassy of Japan in South Africa Norio Maruyama hopes the arrival of the judo in Alexandra will have a positive spin-off on the township’s children and youth.
Maruyama was speaking at the official opening of the Judo for Hope Centre at the Grassroots Sports Facility next to the Altrek Sports Complex in East Bank which was funded by the Japanese government to the tune of more than R400 000 through the Japanese Grant Assistance for Cultural Grassroots Projects.
“The new centre offers judo classes for the whole community, including children, youth and women and also serves as a community centre, and will contribute to the health and development of the children and the youth and mould them into better citizens of their community, town, province, country and region, including the whole of Africa and the globe in its entirety,” Maruyama said.
He said judo was a highly disciplined sport that possessed a powerful ingredient of moulding and nurturing children and the youth. It turned the youth into productive community members and took them away from the social ills that afflicted communities and families.
Ward 105 councillor Tefo Raphadu said children were starting to stream into the centre in the hope of imbibing in the good discipline that is offered by judo. “We cross our fingers it lives up to its dream of providing hope to those without hope.”
President of Judo South Africa Temba Hlasho said the centre would allow participants to learn and grow together. “As we celebrate the opening of this centre, we should not forget the people of KwaZulu-Natal who have experienced an unprecedented flooding disaster in this country.”
The opening of the centre was followed by the planting of a fruit tree as a symbol of hope and nourishment of life which the centre is expected to bring to the community of Alexandra.
The centre was graced with the attendance of the Sacred Heart College’s Three2Six Refugee School which has numerous interfaces with Judo SA and was represented by its advocacy officer Charlotte Margerit Byrne.
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