About Dangerous Darkies
If your are some what intrigued by the name Dangerous Darkies and are wondering what sort of Pan African organisation this is, you can rest assured that we do not have any implicit political agenda. DD is a unique sports and recreation club that was established by proactive students in the community of Cosmo City North West of Johannesburg in the province of Gauteng. Its beauty stems from its origin that can not be pin pointed to an exact date of establishment but can be attributed to a wonderful exhibition of initiative by the children of Cosmo City.
Events and programmes that were facilitated by staff members of Oasis South Africa in the month of June 2010 began the paths towards a wonderful relationship between oasis and the DD’s. This brought a different dimension to the team that compounded the already unique dynamics of DD. It introduced what I call Urban Cross Cultural Character Panel Beating Initiation, which is a journey where young boys and girls old enough to make their own decisions are exposed to situations that will require them to make choices that reject some of society’s prescriptions for their lives. Being young and surrounded by economic poverty creates obstacle that often set really low goals and dreams for many. Without going into detail it is important to keeping in mind that DD is undergoing a transformation that will be lead by the youth that lives in this community giving them a platform to realise and discover the gifts and incredible abilities that are already in them. DD is a place to make mistakes but also to learn from those mistakes because we are young and believe, whether we are players or coaches, we are there to learn from each other young or old, boy or girl, black or even white. This encompasses in brief our strong passion for inclusion and discovery of a malleable reality.
With the mouth full that has been generously dished out in the later paragraph it seems fitting that we divulge the programs that we run and hope to run in the future. The point of departure is the statement ‘EMBRACING SPORT AND ART TO FIND EDUCATION.’ We hope to demonstrate that sports plays a major role in teaching lessons of life necessary for the holistic growth of an individual. Soccer, netball, dance and drama are the daily activities that DD takes part in and is passionate about. We are aware of the vastness and different kinds of sport that is at our disposal. Exposure to the different types of sports for the children of DD puts an emphasis on our passion for broadening the perspectives by engaging with activities that are foreign and different to our traditional sports. Careers decisions are also some of the major challenges that we face on a daily basis. We hope to expose everyone whether coach or player to the different opportunities that are available so we can start working towards the things that will make us happy.
Expanding perspective and finding value and worth in ourselves is top of the agenda. We believe that we can all find our way through life and its challenges by facing our reality head on so we are not subdued by it but rather take control of it ourselves. We can do it.
As a soccer player the word bench has the negative element that many eager soccer plays drench. Being on the bench means that a player is left on the sideline to watch other players enjoy the game as the sit and wait patiently for their turn. Well this is not the case for a Dangerous Darkie. The sideline has never been more edifying and fruitful than it is on the Dangerous Darkies bench.
a new meaning to being on the bench.It’s no longer seen as a negative thing instead an opportunity to gain educational ground. It’s true that many of the children will do their best to stay away from the bench but the sad reality is that they need it more than ever.The essential service strike has set back many children that already had serious problems with their basic numeracy and literacy skills before the strike. All we have are reading books, and people passion to help the children of Cosmo City the best way we can.
