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In 2010 the World Cup was held in Africa for the first time. This was a huge event for Africa and every African boy’s dream was to attend. Football is a borderline obsession in most impoverished areas, Chiawa being no exception. It provides a break from the tedium and hard work of rural life and is a great force for team building and physical development. So with all the excitement of the World Cup being held on the African continent for the first time we felt we had to be a part of it and bring a bit of it to African kids who would never go to the Cup or even see it on TV.
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DIA’s supporters wanted to make the children of Chiawa part of it, so we held our own mini-World Cup tournament over two weekends. over 600 village people attended with great enthusiasm. At the end of the tournament 5 lucky players’ names were drawn from a hat and the winners were taken to South Africa by Richard to see three of the games. Government helped secure their passports and Richard flew them to South Africa where they saw their heroes play the magnificent game. This was the first flight, first hotel, and first hot bath for all the boys. An extremely rewarding experience for both Richard and the children.
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We also provided a 65″ TV screen to Chiawa Basic school with a satellite TV subscription which showed every game of the World cup and access was made available to all of those in the village who wanted to watch.