31/01/2023
Foundation
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Namibia’s FIBA Foundation Youth Leaders usher Basketball For Good through the BAS Foundation

WINDHOEK (Namibia) – FIBA Foundation Youth Leaders Mantius Amukoshi and Petrina Aron have combined forces at the Basketball Artists School Foundation, and are constructing a safe haven for vulnerable kids in Katutura.

What is the FIBA Foundation Youth Leadership program?

The FIBA Foundation Youth Leadership Program aims to equip youth to use basketball as a tool to bring a positive impact within their local communities.

The empowerment program has cultivated 45 Youth Leaders (22 female and 23 male) since 2021 across the globe, from the Americas, Africa, South East Asia, and the Pacific.

The Youth Leaders participated in a year-long program, focusing on Sustainable Developmental Goals of their choice they can aspire to achieve in their respective regions and create their respective Basketball For Good projects.

Life in Katutura, Windhoek

Namibia’s Petrina Aron and Mantius Amukoshi are two such  Youth Leaders, who graduated from the program last summer. Both are associated with the Basketball Artists School Foundation (BAS), an organization in the township of Katutura in Windhoek, that supports 200 children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Petrina and Mantius are themselves beneficiaries of BAS.

For Petrina, who grew up in a boarding school battling loneliness and a sense of worthlessness, BAS was a godsend that gave her purpose.

“I was born in the northern part of Namibia and was raised in the capital city, Windhoek. I was raised by a single guardian, my aunt. I am a basketball player and have been playing since I was 11 when I joined the Basketball Artists School Foundation,” Petrina tells FIBA Foundation.

“Growing up in Katutura exposed me to a society pleading for a space to vent and be set free from the bondage of substance abuse and internal suffering,” adds Mantius.

Key Learnings from the Youth Leadership program

While Petrina was introduced to the FIBA Foundation Youth Leadership program via BAS, for Mantius it was through the Namibian Basketball Federation.

The program has taught them about leadership, opening their minds to new ideas and giving them a framework to solve community-based challenges.

“I have learned a lot honestly not just on basketball but more on how to be a real leader in my society… This program has made a huge impact on the way I think…We use the concept of Mini Basketball as a tool to get the kids in our program, and the younger they are the better the chance of making them fall in love with the sport,” Petrina says.

Mantius highlights his takeaways from the Youth Leadership program as follows:

“We learned how to be impactful using basketball in our communities and building a safe basketball atmosphere in our respective communities, [and also] … how to organize basketball games and create tournament systems in our communities.

Creating a safe space for kids

The duo organizes after-school clubs four days a week, focusing not only on basketball but also dance, soccer, debate, and spelling bee, to ensure no child is excluded. 

The purpose is to provide a safe haven at BAS, keeping kids off the streets and constructively engaged.

“We have created a place for people that want to be at BAS. We created clubs within the BAS space to cater to more children in our community. We also started going to primary schools near our facilities to assist with P.E. sessions. The schools have allowed us to reach out to more kids and they have created great programs for us to assist with,” Mantius says.

 Ushering Gender Equality and Bringing People Together

Mantius and Petrina are hard at work addressing their preferred Sustainable Development Goals.

Petrina endeavors to reduce the prevailing gender equality so that “the girls in my community are not only seen as girls that must do home chores” and “those that want to be involved in sports have an equal opportunity for their voices to be heard and talent to be seen, and most importantly for them to be given a fair and just chance.”

Mantius’s goals and plans are strongly aligned with BAS’s existing projects to “create an edutainment-encapsulated Life Skills curriculum” and “building a different and unique atmosphere that brings people together to share the same experiences and journey.”

 

In reaching their lofty but laudable targets, Mantius and Petrina are leaning on each other, through good times and bad.

“Mantius and I have been working and helping each other since we were 11 years old…when I am down he helps me up and…when he is down I help him up, so that we don’t ever forget why we started in the first place,” Petrina points out.

Thanks to Youth Leaders like them, Katutura’s future will be brighter than its past.

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The FIBA Foundation is the social and legacy arm of FIBA that addresses the role of sports and particularly basketball in society, preserving and promoting basketball’s values and its cultural heritage.

The FIBA Foundation believes that basketball has the power to empower, educate and inspire youth and facilitates this by implementing Basketball For Good projects around the world.

 

FIBA