Disadvantaged and Underprivileged kids in Chess

George Butau is in Capetown, South Africa has got so much passion for the game of chess and working with kids.In December last year he used his savings and erected a shack and also managed to buy some few chess sets and started a project introducing chess to the kids in the marginalized communities in Western Cape, South Africa.

In these communities there is a very little to no recreational facilities available and kids spend most of their time roaming the streets and sitting in street corners and indulging in all forms of bad things.Crime also on the other hand in these communities is so rife,so rampant and includes acts of violence, gangsterism, thefts, robberies, buglaries etc.There are also high levels of substance, drug, and alcohol abuse, high levels of teenage pregnancies, high levels of school dropouts and underage drinking and poor pass rates in the schools.Sadly enough, school going kids are heavily involved in these kind of acts and it is against such a disturbing and worrying background that George Butau decided to introduce chess to the kids so it can ;

1)Help keep the kids off the streets

2)Help boost their IQ and creativity

3)Help kids focus on better things and improve on their rational thinking

4)Help kids improve their academic performances and help teach them about tackling tasks and strategic thinking

5) Help build safer communities for All

6) Popularize the game of chess in these communities

Since starting this project in December last year the response has been so overwhelming and there are now plus 100 kids in the register coming in for including some orphans and the number is growing up so fast as more kids are developing a huge interest in the game.

In and around the communities where this project was started there are about 57 schools where they don't play chess and it is George's intention to also go into these schools and help set up chess clubs and looking for help to set up a schools chess league, stage tournaments with the winners getting scholarships to attend to better schools so as to inspire other kids to abstain from doing bad things and play chess.

In this project there are also some challenges which are;

a) Shortage of chess equipment-chess sets, chess clocks, chess literature books

b) Shortage of space as the shack that was erected and being used for chess practices has become so small to accommodate a good number of kids at any given time and looking for containers which then can be converted into chess practice rooms

c) Shortage of furniture i.e plastic chairs and tables for the kids to use when they come in for chess practices, currently they are sitting on the floor mats

d) Help is required to meet some running costs of the project which includes travelling expenses, stationery, masks and sanitizers for the kids coming in for chess and other sundry expenses.