Coach is stranded at home

A Cape Town man on a visit from New York has been left stranded in South Africa because of the suspension of international air travel due to the Coronavirus.

But this has not stopped Shaun Petersen, 41, from making a difference in the community in which he grew up.

Shaun, originally from Lavender Hill, moved to New York in 2013, where he works at Workaway International as a soccer coach and referee for sports clubs and varsity schools in the Brooklyn area.

“I came to South Africa to celebrate my birthday and host an annual soccer tournament on 27 April, an event that I started last year for underprivileged youth in the community,” he explains.

“To me sport is life, and the soccer tournament I hosted in 2019 with the help of various people was my 40th birthday gift to the community that raised me into the man that I am today.”

Shaun says holding the event last year at his former school, Steenberg High, was very rewarding and emotional, adding that soccer saved his life.

“I grew up without a father, and one of my teachers, Mr Lawrence, was really a pillar of strength to me. He was the father figure that I never had.

“The area of Lavender Hill and Pelikan Park is overridden with drugs and gangsters, but despite all that, the place is filled with lots of good.”

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, his plans of hosting the soccer tournament were derailed.

But if all goes well, next year he hopes to hold the tournament on Robben Island, adding that many underprivileged children on the Cape Flats have yet to visit the historical island where former president Nelson Mandela was incarcerated by the apartheid government.

REWARDING: Shaun aims to host a soccer tournament on Robben Island for underprivileged children

Through his foundation, Shaun aims to give local kids the opportunity to visit the US to take part in various sporting codes, which will broaden their horizons and change their lives.

He has now temporarily moved back in with his mom, saying: “I had to construct a makeshift bedroom. My life has literally come to a standstill due to Covid-19.”

He has resorted to selling firewood and various other things to get by.

But despite these circumstances, Shaun has opened a soup kitchen to help the needy in his area.

“We’re planning to feed people three times a week. For now I am going to serve the community until I can go back to New York City, but my family will continue with the soup kitchen once I leave,” he adds. 

African News Agency