Mamelodi

is a township east of Pretoria which was set up on a former farm. In the 1960ies black people were forcefully removed out of one of the capital’s suburbs to different townships, one of them being Mamelodi. The name means Mother of Melodies after president’s Paul Kruger ability to imitate birds. The township is home to the Mamelodi Sundowns of SA’s Premier Soccer League.



We visit two schools which are part of the YDF (Youth Development through Football) program, a program organized by NGOs and German association GTZ (Gesellschaft für techn. Zusammenarbeit). The program is aimed at developing life skills of young members of underprivileged communities in leadership abilities, ecological awareness and HIV/AIDS prevention etc.

We accompany one of the pupils to her home in Mamelodi and get to know her mother and her siblings. We are allowed into their shack where we are struck by heat and the constrictions of an underprivileged life.