Canadian Soccer Association visits SOS Children’s village in Rustenburg

Canadian Soccer Association General Secretary Peter Montopoli visited the SOS Children’s village in Rustenburg, South Africa on Wednesday, June 16 where he is currently serving as a FIFA General Coordinator for Rustenburg’s World Cup venue. The Rustenburg village holds a particularly strong connection for the Canadian Soccer Association. In 2006 the Association, along with its membership, contributed nearly $100,000 to build CSA House in the village as part of the worldwide “6 villages for 2006” charity campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The SOS “Let’s Play, Let’s Build” campaign was the official charity of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007 and during this event over $400,000 was raised for an outreach program run by SOS Children’s village Rustenburg (called the Family Strengthening Program). Montopoli, who served as the tournament director for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007, is in South Africa in his role as a FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 General Coordinator for Rustenburg’s Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
During his visit to the village, Montopoli congratulated the SOS Children’s village children who were provided tickets to a FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 match on 19 June in Rustenburg. The tickets were rewarded to those children who demonstrated exceptional achievement in school, displayed personal determination and perseverance, and for exhibiting fair-play on the soccer pitch. An Ottawa company, Lixar IT, made the opportunity possible by providing the match tickets to the Rustenburg village. Lixar IT has been a supporter of SOS Rustenburg since first getting involved in the “6 villages for 2006” campaign back in 2006.
As the Official Charity of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany 2006, the SOS campaign ‘6 villages for 2006′ raised funds for 6 new SOS Children’s Villages around the world, one of which was Rustenburg. The Rustenburg region was chosen because of its extremely high numbers of orphaned and vulnerable children due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The CSA worked with SOS to mobilize provincial associations (and their regions and clubs) to support this campaign with a goal of raising $100,000 to build one house in the village. By the end of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, this goal was achieved with the help of the soccer community across Canada. The house now bears a plaque on the wall acknowledging the contribution of the CSA and the Canadian soccer community and provides a safe home and a bright future to generations of orphaned children in this part of South Africa.
When the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007 came to Canada, SOS was again identified as the official charity. This campaign selected to continue to support the work in Rustenburg. Through ‘Let’s Play, Let’s Build,’ over $400,000 was raised in Canada for the Family Strengthening Outreach Program run by SOS Children’s village Rustenburg. Through the contributions of Canadians during the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007, the program was launched and now provides 250 families the necessities of life, such as education, health care and nutrition, while working to empower adults to find new ways to support themselves through vocational training.
Today, there are still over 100 soccer clubs and associations actively supporting SOS Rustenburg in Canada.