Personal message

I want to introduce you to my daughter, Angelique – she is a 16-year-old pupil at Hoërskool Die Wilgers in Pretoria. She was presented with (what we thought) a once in a lifetime opportunity early last year when she was selected as part of the u/16 All Stars Softball team travelling to the Netherlands in October 2023.

 We knew we had to do everything in our power to make that dream come true. Since none of us have ever been overseas, my husband suggested that I accompany Angelique on the tour. It was the start of a crazy, busy year for our family. Angelique and I made and sold fudge and bath bombs; her dad worked overtime every opportunity he got! We sold the family car and downgraded to something that can simply get us from point A to point B. We had some very welcome contributions from family members and anonymous doners on BackaBuddy. We managed to get all the funds together and both of us were able to go on the Netherlands tour.

 Thinking 2024 will be a quieter year, we got the news on Friday that Angelique was again selected for the All Stars Softball team, u/19 travelling to Prague in September 2024. We are just amazed by how blessed Angelique is to be selected for this honor a second time!

 As parents you really want to give your children all the opportunities available, and right now it looks like we will have to sell truck loads of fudge and bath bombs to make this work! The overtime possibilities at the office were drastically cut and there is no equity in the downgraded car to downgrade further!

 I really want to ask the help of every person reading this message, to please contribute towards Angelique’s softball tour. She has a natural talent for sports, including netball and golf, and plan on making sport part of her career after school. This opportunity will reflect positively on her when applying for scholarships for tertiary education.

 The quoted price of the tour is R64,990. This excludes visa fees which will probably be between R2,000 and R2,500. If possible, we will have to also replace her bat – it broke after the Netherlands tour, and she had to borrow a bat for the Dixon Wessels Tournament in December. All donations are highly appreciated.

 Please share this BackaBuddy link on your social media to help Angelique get to Prague