Empowerment through canoeing
EMMERENTIA – EVERY Thursday evening, like clockwork and regardless of the weather, members of the Soweto Canoe and Recreation Club (Scarc) do time trials on Emmerentia Dam.
A group of eager youth psyche themselves up for a session of intensive and focused paddling at the Dabulamanzi Canoe Club.
The club is a outreach development programme for underprivileged children sponsored by Adreach Foundation.
Director Steve Jourdan, a Parkhurst resident, has been part of this initiative since its founding in 2004.
“It’s about empowerment through sport through the medium of canoeing,” he said
The programme trains youth from Soweto aged seven and above through several phases of canoeing.
First they are taught how to swim, then how to paddle and maneuver on the water.
Jourdan said empowerment, development and growth, through the discipline of sport, extended far beyond canoeing.
“We work very closely with the schools and provide extra tuition. We don’t just focus on sporting ability but also concentrate on developing their ability to contribute to the workplace in a meaningful way.”
Members of Scarc have been on job shadowing and given work experience in various fields by other, older members of the Dabulamanzi Canoe Club. Over the years, the initiative has had over 1 000 children participate in the club, though not all participants stay. About 50 active members passed Grade 12, eight of whom went on to university with bursaries.
Scarc’s current chairman, Nkosi Mzolo, has been with the club for eight years. “When I finished matric I didn’t know what I wanted to do, they helped me with my studies and they helped me with my tuition.”
Mzolo studied through Netcare Academy and is now a qualified paramedic based at Rosebank Hospital. He remains an avid canoeist and co-ordinates the club’s activities for its younger members.
The programme has had enough success to merit the attention of local government. The Youth Directorate of the Gauteng Provincial Government approached Jourdan and Adreach Foundation about opening more clubs as a medium for empowerment.
“We agreed to use this model – not canoeing specifically, but through other sports clubs,” said Jourdan.
Details: www.scarc.co.za
