Nursing Services of the UK saves South African Football Team
/| Nursing Services of the UK stepped in and paid for the air travel for the South African football team today when their government funding was suddenly withdrawn for the flight of the 10-man squad to the Homeless World Cup in Italy next week. Once homeless herself, managing director Penny Streeter’s company A24 Group is a major investor in South Africa. |
| Penny Streeter lived in a homeless refuge with her three children before starting her company in 1996. She is founder and managing director of A24 Group, a medical staffing agency with a turnover of £70 million (year to June 2009), and no loans or external investors. The company opened offices in South Africa in 2004 and launched an £11 million investment programme. The Homeless World Cup, Milan 2009, runs from 6th to 13thSeptember, with 500 players from 48 nations. An estimated 100 million people worldwide are homeless (Source: United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 2005). www.homelessworldcup.org "Well I read that funding by the City of Cape Town stopped because of huge demands on their budgets in the recession, so I felt I had to step in. Homelessness is a terrible waste of good people, usually overtaken by events with which they just can’t cope - in the UK, one in four of the homeless are ex-military. It's a problem which should get more attention, given British involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq," said Penny Streeter. South Africa hosted the Homeless World Cup in Cape Town 2006. The domestic league now involves 100 volunteers and activities in various communities of Cape Town and the Western Cape focusing on education, social support and HIV awareness for street children. The league has grown to involve over 700 players in 55 teams: 50 per cent of the players are currently living on the street, a number of them are in drug rehabilitation programmes and others in institutions for street people. SAHSS (South African Homeless Street Soccer) has successfully used football to foster healthy individual development, teach positive values and life skills, strengthen education, and prevent disease through education (particularly HIV/AIDS). For more information:- You can also visit our Facebook Page or Follow us on Twitter Follow the team on the Blog: blog.a24group.co.ukFor further media information please click here |