Two North West men from Jouberton near Klerksdorp are appealing for financial assistance to attend the 2023 World Transplant Games, which will be held in Perth, Australia, in April.
Velile Dube, 44, and Lebogang Moabi, 36, are renal failure survivors and members of the South African transplant organisation, which introduced them to sports such as the long jump and the ball throw. Dube and Moabi were selected to participate in the Perth games and were ecstatic to be chosen. However, their joy was short-lived when they learned they would need at least R45,000 to cover flight tickets, running shoes, accommodation and meals for the trip.
The two men have now turned to the public and are appealing to any Good Samaritan to come to their rescue. The two men have been through a lot of difficulties since they were diagnosed with kidney problems and being selected for an international game has been life changing for them. Moabi learned of his sickness at age 18, shortly after his mother and brother passed on. He said it was a terrible time since he had to endure the shock of being alone after losing his family and having learned that he must do daily dialysis while he waited for a kidney transplant.
Fortunately, he received a donor in 2009 and had a kidney transplant which normalised his life and improved its quality. “It was difficult for me since I was all alone; athletics was my only escape from my worries,” he said while describing the prospect of having to travel abroad and meet other transplant recipients as “overwhelming”. “Meeting different people through organ donation such as kidney, heart, lungs and bone marrow is so special. I want this trip so bad since it will be my first visit to Australia. We missed a trip to travel to the United States because of Covid-19” Moabi said. Dube on the other hand received a kidney transplant in 2010 six years after he was diagnosed with kidney problems.
An ardent sports enthusiast, Dube was encouraged to do even more when he joined the association in 2012. He participated in national games hosted by South Africa and held in Durban in 2013, but never qualified for the international games. Dube has been abroad before and he traveled to Spain in 2017 for the Soccer World Cup.
“We constantly struggle to raise funds but for my Spain trip, I got support from the Thabo Pelesane Foundation. Being in these games is memorable in that you meet with people from different countries make friends and form bonds.” Just now, a friend from the UK asked me if I was going to Perth and I had to tell him that I don’t have enough money for the trip.
Fifty-six countries will be competing in the Perth games and these games are groundbreaking in that before advances in medicine and healthcare, transplant patients were not encouraged to engage in ordinary sport. That is until the World Transplant Games were established and patients were encouraged to participate. The two can be reached on 0608404438 or 0835282978.
