Raising Growing Champions

GROWING CHAMPIONS choose to live by a code to build their lives, lead, serve, celebrate their blessings and unite.

- Vanessa Papas

MAHATMA GANDHI once said, “You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing, there will be no result.” As children, you can’t choose the circumstances in which you grow up. Sometimes, being born into an impoverished community can set the course of your life, no matter how dedicated or determined you are at becoming a success. Growing Champions, a non-profit company, runs a youth development and leadership programme for boys from Eldorado Park, a township south of Johannesburg known for drugs, violence and gangsters. Residents say unemployment, lack of housing, substance abuse and crime are just some of the major challenges facing them. They have complained of a lack development in the area, which gives very little hope for young people. Another resident says unemployment is a serious problem that brings up more challenges for the area.