Heading home after an amazing adventure with my Mom filled with Joburg Safari, Double D's bar in Port Elizabeth, petting lions and tigers, honeymoon suite, penthouse suite, near death scooter rides, Champman's Peak, two World Cup matches, and 4 new Netherlands fans. More pictures to come once we get back to the States.

Sharp!

Mossel Bay

Just left Port Elizabeth and our great host Stephie and Deon who made us a fabulous potjie lamb/chicken (like stew) that cooks for hours. Drove half way to Cape Town and are staying in Mossel Bay off the Indian Ocean. Inn keeper so nice he gave us a extra room - the honeymoon suite - haha. When in JoBerg, went Northwest past Pretoria to Pilanesberg game reserve - 220 sq. miles - saw elephants, girafee, kudu, springbok, rhino, 4-lions, etc. Was a great day. Went to visit the township in PE where Beth's grassroots friend Siya lives - his sister thought that one of Beth's friends - Joel - was my husband. Pretty funny considering he is in his later 20's. Still got it. :)

Netherland vs. Brazil was a crazy game with the one of the biggest upsets of the tournament. We are all NED fans now - they have the best party bus and are now looking for orange for the CapeTown game NED vs URG. Go Holland! Will be in CapeTown tomorrow and are renting scooters and climbing table mountain. Miss you all on the 4th of July - hope you had a blast!

Maureen

World Cup as a Fan

It is time to say goodbye to the IBC and Joburg and head to Port Elizabeth. Mama Gill and I will enjoy one more Karaoke night at the infamous Jabulani's and then we are off to Port Elizabeth to see the old Bluewater Bay gang and attend the Brazil vs Netherlands Quarterfinal. Stay tuned for Mo's Karaoke debut.

Maradona vs Messi

WORLD CUP DREAMS

It has been an exciting few weeks of soccer so far and I know you all are pumped to finally have this month arrive. With the month of World Cup play already kicked off in South Africa, Hope in Richmond keeps moving forward and hosting Grassroot holiday and soccer camps for the children. HIV education camps are open to both girls and boys in the Richmond community. HIR coaches Sticka, Bianca, and Meula are busy organizing and executing these camps.

More exciting news Sony donated hundreds of World Cup tickets to take local HIR Grassroot Graduates to all World Cup matches being played in Bloemfontein. I sent out an urgent email in May asking for donations to help pay for transportation to Bloemfontein, 4 hours from the rural Richmond community. I want to thank everyone for donating and making this once and a lifetime experience a reality for hundreds of local South African Grassroot Soccer Graduates. The response was incredible and we were able to raise enough money to transport the kids to and from Bloemfontein and also provide a meal for the day. The experience of attending a World Cup match will never be forgotten and the stories of those days will be told for years and lifetimes to come. Thank you again and enjoy the pictures below.











Thank you from sponsored GRS Graduate.

Translation:
~Lionel
We want to thank you for GRS and the coaches for the day at the stadium. I want to thank all the coaches to look after us at the stadium and we want to thank all the USA team for the soccer tickets. I appreciate it. And we thank the soup kitchen for the food that they give us. Thanks