Swiss experience for kids

It was all red and white on the 20th June at the Dan Qeqe Stadium in Zwide (one of the townships we work in). The Suisse were playing Chile the following day and the kids had the pleasure of meeting one of the players from the Switzerland team, Philippe Senderos as well as the Swiss Ambassador, Mr Rudolf Baerfuss. The officials from the Swiss Football Association were there to interact with the kids.

The Swiss Embassy had sponsored 60 tickets for our beneficiaries for this match, which meant the world to the kids that got to receive these tickets. This sponsor was made possible through our institutional partner, Imbewu Suisse. There was a lot of media from Switzerland and the mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, Mr Zanoxolo Wayile, was also there.

The kids got to mingle with Senderos, play with him and listen to motivational talks from him, the Ambassador and our Mayor. Swiss t-shirts and caps were the order of the day. In the later afternoon, there was a football tournament between the kids where one team was in Swiss t-shirts and the other in South African t-shirts.

Match day was full of excitement carried over from the previous day as sixty kids went to watch the game at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium all geared up in their red supporters t-shirts. Walking around the stadium with the Ambassador made the kids feel extremely important and proud to be part of this group.

It was a lot of fun watching the game especially since the kids had been “hanging out” with one of the players just the previous day! The kids were singing Swiss songs, which caught a lot people’s attention as it was rather unusual to see these South African kids singing Swiss songs with so much passion and excitement. The atmosphere was just beautiful and the kids had a great time watching the match.