They call me Rooney
Jerome came to faith in Christ in Drakenstein Prison where he spent many years of his young life, with the staff of Message Trust and Ambassador’s Football having a great impact on his life. Upon his release in 2016 he came to stay at one of our City Mission half way homes for ex-offenders. Recognizing his potential and his skills in soccer, we brought him onto our field team in June 2016 and placed him in a center in Hanover Park, a place about which we have long been in prayer. In these 6 months, Jerome was selected to attend a Premier League Coaching clinic at Ajax and sponsored by the British Council. He was privileged to learn coaching from the best coaches in the British Premier League. In this program, he spent a week in a grand hotel room as opposed to a prison cell. He has started a soccer team in a section of Hanover Park with youth who have long been exposed to drugs, gangsterism and death. This week they played their first match in the brand new soccer kits, in itself a first for them. And they played not on the killing fields of Hanover Park but on the beautiful Ajax grounds against the Ajax under 15 team. The may have lost the game but they won solidly in attitude, gratitude and a memory they will never forget.