News

World Cup Experience

16/08/2010

The following words come from the pen of Mduduzi Khuswayo, our singing and story-telling coach, who accompanied Siyabonga over the days before and after the World Cup.

"To be part of the FIFA Soccer World Cup was, to date, the greatest experience of my life. The tours that we went on made me realize that I need to know my country as I know myself. From the time we left the centre the atmosphere was out of this world; everyone was looking forward to the day of the match in Rustenburg. I will never forget our night at Pappas restaurant in Sandton, where we were surrounded by bodyguards. We felt that we were V.I.P’s now in the history books. It will be written that during the FIFA Soccer World Cup, Rena le Lona was part and parcel of it, not just as spectators but right inside the package!

On10th June we toured the LESEDI cultural village around BRITS, where we saw different kinds of African villages from Zulu to Tswana and learned the rules of the villages - some of which were new to me. The Lion and Rhino reserve followed where we saw Cheetahs, Leopards, Pumas and snakes.

On 11th of June- we went to waterfall mall in Rustenburg where we had lunch and we than left for the stadium where the player escorts remained and the adults headed for the Sundown Lion Park. Our next stop was Sun City where we visited the Bakwena Crocodile Reserve. Finally we drove to the stadium to watch the match between England and the U.S.A. The atmosphere was electrifying!

I was looking after Siyabonga who enjoyed himself thoroughly. What I like about him is he was flexible and related well to the kids from U.K. He made a friend of one of the UK boys. The mother of that little boy also loved Siyabonga because of her son’s connection with him. Never in my life will I forget this experience."

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