"A Baseball Club created in 2007 in the township of Alexandra near Johannesburg, South Africa, to help underprivileged kids get off the streets and find passion and success through the love of the game."
Mzansi Africa Baseball Originals (MABO) is a registered nonprofit organization with the aim of growing the sport of baseball in South Africa, particularly to improve opportunities for disadvantaged children in the township of Alexandra and beyond. It has grown out of the Alexandra Baseball Club that was founded in 2007 and is affiliated with the Gauteng Baseball Federation.
Yes, we play baseball in Alexandra. Which can be a challenge, because we don't have great sports fields, let alone fences and backstops. But we are so much more than just a baseball club. Our organization aims to build community and education among our youth. By giving kids the opportunity to get off the streets and engage in a regular after-school and weekend activity, we not only show them the love of baseball but give them a sense of purpose, a desire to work hard, and to be a good team player.
Our baseball club currently fields a U13 and a U16 team playing in Gauteng League games and several of our players have represented the province in regional and national tournaments over the last few years. In December 2011, two Alexandra players were invited to attend the first-ever Major League
Baseball African Academy in Cape Town.
"Learning to Play - Playing to Learn"
Alexandra is one of South Africa's poorest and most crime-ridden townships. There is much that needs to be done to transform it into the thriving community it is meant to be, and baseball is one way of working towards that goal. MABO is working on several fronts to build a better community:
- Develop baseball programs in the local schools: We are running regular clinics in a number of Alexandra's schools to help them develop individual baseball programs, and we organized a successful school tournament in 2011 that gave the sport of baseball much needed visibility in the community. We have also submitted a proposal to the Gauteng Department of Education in order to source funding for this project.
- Create jobs: Through a partnership with Community Workers Programme (CWP) we managed to create jobs for ten people as coaches, officials, and administrators.
- Improve fields: Talks are underway with local officials to transform an overgrown and unused athletic track into a new sports field. Having a dedicated baseball field will attract more kids to our program and allows us to have a home field for league games.
- Bring in visitors: By working closely with other teams in the Gauteng Baseball Federation, we have been able to source mobile backstops, bases, and pitchers mounds, so that this year some league games can be played in Alexandra for the first time. This also helps with the ever-present struggle to pay for team transport for weekend games.
Funding: As you can imagine, all this requires manpower and money, both of which are hard to find in a place where everyone is hustling for his daily survival. We have been blessed to receive generous donations of equipment as well as money to help with shipping and transport. Please visit our donations page for more information on how you can help.
Due to our involvement in various projects beyond the original baseball club we have changed our name to Mzansi Africa Baseball Originals (MABO) and registered as a non-profit community development organization. The name of Alexandra Baseball Club will be retained for our affiliation with the Gauteng Baseball Federation.
