In South Africa, many use tree bark for shin guards, branches for goalposts and bunched-up paper bags for soccer balls.

In Canada, many use the backs of their garage and basement shelves to store glossy, little-used soccer gear because they can’t think of what else to do with it after their children have either out-grown it or ceased playing altogether.

Brendan Sexton has an idea. Give it to him.

Then he can package it all and ship it via a container ship to his native country so that at least some of the poor, soccer-mad masses there can utilize and enjoy it. It’s the least the Grade 11 Archbishop Carney regional secondary school student feels he can do, having been born in South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg, before moving with his family to Canada when he was 7.

Now 16, Sexton wears the slickest boots and silkiest jersey toiling for PoCo’s Carney Stars, who are set to compete next week in the B.C. AA provincial high school soccer championships in Burnaby. Next June, he hopes to witness for himself the success of his gear-gathering mission when he visits South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Soccer Cup.

“It’s a completely different lifestyle from what we have here,” Sexton said. “Actually, my parents and I were sitting around the dinner table one night and we figured we’re going to the World Cup, and we’re so fortunate we are here because we’ve lived in South Africa... we thought we might as well try to do some good when we’re there.”

A since-graduated Carney student, Emily Ryan, undertook a similar venture two years ago and gathered new and used soccer gear for the impoverished in Mexico, spurred on by a goodwill trip she previously took to the country. Sexton said he only learned of Ryan’s exploits after he started his own drive, part of which was a presentation he made Wednesday at his former elementary school, Coquitlam’s Queen of All Saints.

Sexton calmly, coolly explained his endeavor verbally and via a slide-show to about 200 excited students in the school gym. He later fielded a myriad of questions from the youngsters, ranging from “How far is South Africa?” to “Can you drive there?” to “Do they have food?”

Sexton summed it up by informing his keen little listeners, “They have very, very poor people who live in tin shacks... and they have very, very wealthy people. The poor people could use our help.”

At the end, teacher Linda Epplette asked all the children who play soccer, or who have an immediate family member who does, to stand, at which point about 170 children rose to their feet. The amount astonished Sexton, who also toils on the Port Moody Arsenal U-21 men’s squad.

“This is the first time I’ve been back here in four years,” he said after. “It was an exciting day back here... seeing all the teachers and seeing all those kids stand up.”

Epplette asked the children to spread the word about Sexton’s ambitious quest, adding how proud she is of Sexton, whom she once taught in his younger years.

“If everybody told somebody, just think how many people would find out about this great cause?” Epplette said.

Sexton’s dad, Peter, is keen on helping his son gather more gear than he ever imagined, although it will come at a cost. And, depending how much Brendan generates, the cost could be steep.

“At this stage, we don’t know if it’s going to be a couple of boxes or a whole, big container,” said Peter, who said his family will likely have to put together fund-raising ventures in order to off-set shipping costs. “We hope it’s the latter but that would obviously increase the cost.”

For more information about Brendan’s initiative and/or to donate, please call 604-468-2864.