Young Legends is an independent, grass-roots upliftment project that was started in 2018 in the Westlake township of Cape Town by several young South Africans, including SIM South Africa Deputy Treasurer Freeman Ndlovu. The initiative is now a project of SIM South Africa.

The Westlake township in Cape Town is a deprived community where more than half of the children are fatherless and where there are father-figures the majority are unemployed. The majority of housing is shacks, with a population of about 10 000 people in a community where the intended population was 1500. There is a lack of extra-curricular and recreational activities and facilities for children who can often be left unattended for large portions of the day as carers have to travel a distance away from the community for work. As a consequence, the children and young people of Westlake are exposed to the harsh reality of poverty, which often leads to gangsterism, and various forms of abuse (sexual, physical, drugs and alcohol).

Young Legends is a place where children and young people can express themselves through sport (primarily football) and other recreational activities. The vision has been to introduce sport and other activities as a means of getting these young adults off the streets and occupied to alleviate substance abuse (alcohol and all sorts of drugs) and criminal activities that some resort to. The vision also extends to sharing the good news of hope that is found in Jesus.

Young Legends has up to sixty young people between the ages of 10 – 36 regularly training and playing football, and also runs a choir, dance and drama groups to accommodate both lads and girls who do not want to play football.

For more information about this project please email the Projects Coordinator on za.projects@sim.org.

Giving

If you would like to support this project financially, this can be done via EFT or by making a deposit in the SIM South Africa account, details of which are below.  Please ensure that you give the project number for this project – 97790 – as a reference to ensure that your gift is allocated correctly.  Thank you.

SIM South Africa

Standard Bank, Blue Route Branch

Account Number: 072 877 014

Branch Code: 025 609