HEARTS OF CHAMPIONS

Champions dream big and do better. They are resilient in the face of obstacles and setbacks. These words are true of the 2019 Jack Cheetham and Letsema Awards winners. Robust Magazine gets to know Fight with Insight and Jumping Kids.

TELL US ABOUT THE WORK YOUR ORGANISATION DOES.
Fight with Insight is a thriving inner-city programme situated in the heart of Johannesburg, intertwining local knowledge and wisdom with world-class expertise and experience. Fight with Insight was established with the vision of creating a safe place for the children of Johannesburg. It uses boxing to teach them the life skills that
will assist them in taking responsibility for their actions and in claiming their rights. It is one of the few programmes that focus on the boy child, without excluding the girl child. The aim is for these boys to claim their manhood and go out into the world as good men.

Our programmes focus on holistic child development. They are based on the assumption that Child Health, in a community with multiple needs and limited resources, lies in the hands of those adults with the know-how and ability to make a meaningful contribution to children’s lives. These programmes include:
• Fitness: Body weight training, running and the discipline of boxing, which takes place six days a week.
• Food: Nutritious food is provided after each training session, and we educate our young people training as chefs about nutrition through our teaching kitchen.
• Friends and family: We create a positive peer culture with the leadership of our Youth Council.
• Feelings: Our psycho-social support and life skills programmes focus on how we as individuals act on what we feel. This creates awareness in the kids and encourages the process of talking out rather than acting out our feelings.
• Fun: Every child's primary preoccupation is play, and we try to emphasise this in all our programmes.

As a result of the immense talent and passion for boxing displayed by the young people who joined our gym, we registered the venue as an Amateur Boxing Gym in 2015. Now we have one of the biggest boxing squads in the country. Among this squad we are proud to count various South African champions and a Pan-African champ.

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO MOST EACH WORK DAY AT YOUR ORGANISATION?
Every day, in every child’s eyes, we see Ubuntu. We see our students and masters as we live and learn on a daily basis, experiencing both the joy and tragedy of doing relational, developmental work with children of this complex city. What we look forward to the most are the many day-to-day unseen and unrecorded highlights that those
of us privileged to be part of regard as greater victories. These highlight the type of young person that we are attracting and nurturing, for example:
• Our South African champion is also a budding chef and never forgets to take a lunch box containing the meal he helped cook home to his mother to taste.
• Our first professional boxer to graduate from the programme won his first match within one minute and three seconds of the first round. While we were waiting outside the venue for the transport to arrive, it got very cold as a storm came in. Of the 60 young people at the event, this boxer came and offered me his jacket because I looked cold.

YOU HAVE SO MANY INSPIRING YOUNGSTERS AND STORIES; CAN YOU SHARE ONE OF YOUR SUCCESS STORIES WITH US?
Peace Ncube is one of our many inspiring youngsters; he shares his story in his own words.

My name is Peace Ncube. I was born at Johannesburg Hospital in 2002. I grew up in Joburg's CBD and was raised by parents who tried their level best to protect me from great difficulties such as financial problems. I attended Our Lady of Wisdom and Khanyiso primary schools in Hillbrow. The secondary school I attended was New Nation.

I’m a child with morals, good dignity, positivity and self-respect, who is willing to learn from other people. I’m very passionate about my sport, which is boxing. It has given me the opportunity to express my fighting skills. Through boxing I have managed to become a Gauteng champion. I am proud of this achievement and want to push harder to be the first Olympic gold medallist from South Africa. I want to make my family, coaches and friends proud.

Academically, I strive for excellence, and have managed to do well thanks to the support of my family, friends and Fight with Insight. After I completed my matric last year, I couldn’t go to university because I did not have enough funds. But I did not give up on my dreams. Instead, I looked for a job, and thanks to my coach, I got a job at Marble Restaurant in Rosebank in early January. The money I earned enabled me to register at Richfield College. I have always wanted to be one of these professionals: a lawyer, a mayor, a city manager or a city attorney. So, I applied to study for a diploma in local government management. I was determined to register for my studies with my first pay cheque, and I’m doing my first year this year. At the time, I was not sure how I was going to pay for the entire course, but I am determined to make it happen.

TELL US ABOUT THE WORK YOUR ORGANISATION DOES.

Jumping Kids supplies and maintains prosthetic and mobility equipment to child amputees and children living with limb deficiencies. Our mandate is to provide disabled and amputee children of school-going age with the tools to be successful, productive and contributing members of society. These tools provide the children with:
• Access to, and maintenance of, high-quality prosthetic and mobility equipment;
• Access to mainstream education; and
• Access to sporting opportunities.

Improved mobility allows kids to be active and participate within their schools and communities. It removes physical and social barriers and gives them a chance to attend mainstream schools. This is critical if they are to develop the skills and knowledge to be successful students and contributing adults. Our goal is to allow our kids to focus on their growth and education, without worrying about how they will access mobility solutions. Talent is rewarded and those who show academic potential are supported with bursaries enabling them to attend better educational institutions. Those who show sporting talent are sent to compete in national and international events; we also leverage their performance to get them into better schooling facilities.

Our goal is to ease the challenges faced by the families we work with, to empower them and to let them know that they are capable of far more than they might believe.

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO MOST EACH WORK DAY AT YOUR ORGANISATION?

Being able to find real purpose in what you do is a blessing, especially in these challenging times. We recently visited three of our Jumping Kids, as well as an adult amputee from a partner project. They are all happy and are making good progress. Every day we are making situations easier to manage; we are also
developing our ability to meet the demand in this sector.

Seeing our kids use their equipment so they can enjoy life to the fullest and build a future shows that we are making a difference. Our kids attend mainstream schools that previously would not have considered them. There are moments of magic, such as when a Jumping Kid who previously could not walk tears down a sports track to win a medal on the world stage. Each day brings these possibilities, which makes it easy for us at Jumping Kids to get on with the hard work needed to make things happen.

YOU HAVE SO MANY INSPIRING YOUNGSTERS; CAN YOU SHARE ONE OF YOUR SUCCESS STORIES WITH US?

We have so many stories. For instance, we can tell you about a child being unable to walk initially and then becoming mobile, or another child being nervous and excited at taking their first few steps and then persevering and being included in the Paralympics – and winning medals at the event. All our kids have had amazing achievements. However, it is over the long term that we see the real impact Jumping Kids has had. Wisdom’s story is one example.

Wisdom was born with a deformed foot and was sent to the Steve Biko Academic Hospital’s Congenital Birth Defect Clinic. This is where he met orthopaedic surgeon Professor Ruan Goller and prosthetist Johan Snyders. Their intervention, together with the support of Jumping Kids, meant that the amputation was done early and Wisdom had his prosthetic early on. As a result, he was able to play with the kids in his community, although there was deep-seated prejudice shown towards him because of his disability.

Wisdom was very active and in order to give him the start he needed, Jumping Kids helped him gain access to a crèche and early childhood development. His progress and learning improved markedly, and suddenly the other parents were sending kids to play with him because he was smart, he could read and they could learn from him.

Because Wisdom is in a better school, he is getting schoolwork and support during lockdown that the other kids in his community are not. So, his house has become a learning centre for the kids in his neighbourhood. His status and that of his family has improved – they are no longer the family with the “disabled kid”; they’re now the family with the smart kid who has a robotic leg. They are included and their voices are heard.

These small changes in perception are important. Kids with a disability have been hidden and made to feel inferior. Most of the solutions required to ease these challenges are available. We just need to make them more affordable, accessible and acceptable in society. That is how we start to build equality for people with disabilities and to break the stigmas associated with disabilities.