During the vibrant Lays RePlay Field at Safe-Hub Tembisa, two youngsters from the township bagged themselves an opportunity of a lifetime to witness the FIFA World Cup in June.
The two young footballers, a boy, Themba (15), and a girl, Omolemo (14), will travel to World Cup co-host Mexico to watch the Colombia-Uzbekistan match on 18 June in Mexico City.
Lays Senior Brand Manager, Ntumi Kondile, explains the initiative.
Once-in-a-lifetime experience
“How this came about: we are one of the official snack partners of the FIFA World Cup, and we thought it would be natural to open doors for young talent to go see what’s out there in the world and go experience the World Cup first-hand,” Kondile told Sunday World.
“And through this tournament and our partners SafeHub and Common Goal, Lays then decided that we wanted to provide that experience for these two winners. There are also other initiatives around the world of a similar nature.”
‘It is a dream come true’
Omolemo shared her excitement about leaving South Africa for the first time.
“I am so excited about the opportunity to go to the World Cup in Mexico; it is a dream come true for me. So, what I am looking forward to the most is learning more about football, on and off the field, and just being a better person around other children.”
“I just hope that my peers will be motivated by me winning this trip, and they will also do more next time,” Omolemo added.
Lucas Radebe announced the two winners
Lays Brand Ambassador Lucas Radebe was at the event in Tembisa two weeks ago. He announced the two winners, saying that he hopes they will use the opportunity to grow their football knowledge.
“To have a brand like Lay’s coming to Ekasi (township) and give these underprivileged kids this opportunity is great and one that will make a huge impact on their future. I have never seen a youngster this emotional in a very long time, which goes to show how much this opportunity means to this boy,” Radebe said.
“This is an incredible opportunity for them to have an experience of a lifetime, it’s just a dream come true. You can imagine that out of all these teams and players that have been participating in the competition, only two were selected to watch the World Cup.
“So, it’s something very special that these two kids shouldn’t take for granted, because this is a nice and great opportunity to see what international football is all about.”
