Today in Trust member Kate Thompson’s South Africa diary, Kate tracks down the City shirts donated by the club, on the request of a City fan, to a township team
Day 9: Thursday, 17 June 2010
A 9.00 start for the township visit and football match. We drove to Fish Hoek (on the peninsula) to pick up a guide from i-to-i (a charity using volunteers to help with building projects, etc) and to use the facilities, as there would not be any in the township. It was called Masiphumelele and was cheek by jowl with some very nice properties. When we arrived we were met by Charlotte, a lady working for the charity who lives in the township. She showed us round and was especially proud of the various projects which the charity – and other organisations – have provided for the people.
At an orphanage we were entertained by a group of small children singing the South African national anthem and, rather bizarrely, ‘If you’re happy and you know it’ which I joined in with. There was one little boy at the front who seemed totally bored by the whole thing and yawned his head off as the others finished; he also had the bandiest legs I have ever seen, and it did occur to me that it might be rickets. We were shown lots of other things, including newly-built houses which were much more sturdy than the shacks that most of the people lived in.….
We were not surprised to see that the smartest buildings were government agencies! This included a very nice looking library and resource centre and I made enquiries about donating material to them when I get back home. I will need to know what would be most helpful of course. Most of the people do not have jobs and there were lots of them just hanging about doing very little. It was a most humbling experience and even the two young boys in our party were silenced by the obvious contrast with their own homes.
Children at the Orphanage
No one has private facilities, with most of the (I suspect primitive) toilets shared by a number of families. Charlotte showed us her house, a two-roomed shack in which she had brought up three children. We were told not to give anything but to make donations to the Thomson reps who would make sure the money would be used for the best purpose. (In the event we raised over 30,000 Rand, the equivalent to over £3,000 – a truly remarkable sum).
We arrived back at the Fish Hoek sports centre just before 1.00 and the match began, after the Thomson team was sorted out. I lost count of the number of substitutes, but they included David Baddiel who was there with Frank Skinner – who I spoke to.
I had been told about a Leicester City fan who had approached our chairman to ask for a couple of shirts and had been given a full set, which we expected the South African team to wear. I was sitting on the coach when I spotted a City replica shirt and it turned out to be Paul; it also transpires that he lives very close to me. In the event the boys didn’t wear the shirts for the match, preferring their own, but they did put them on afterwards.
Player in City Shirt
The result was a bit irrelevant but for the record the South Africans won by a single goal. There was a pay bar and a braai (barbecue) was included in the very modest cost, all of which we were assured would go to the township. Before the game started the mc for the day (one of the reps) suggested we sing the national anthems; it was a surreal experience to stand in the middle of an African field singing ‘God save the Queen’ without any music! The barbecue included ostrich sausage, which was tasty and it is low-fat meat so very good for one! And somewhat surprisingly, there was an Italian coffee-making machine.
There were several people wearing T-shirts with the legend ‘It’s football not soccer’, who turned out to be volunteers at the orphanage. One of them talked to me and told me that they were building an extension at the back so that they could take more children. She turned out to be a journalist from the News of the World so I may appear in Sunday’s paper! I was hoping it would be one of the more respectable papers but you can’t have everything!
She was very impressed that a 62-year old woman should be travelling on her own to the World Cup and insisted on a photo. After the match had finished those of us who had brought shirts for the children laid them out on the ground and they made an impressive sight.
We travelled back in glorious sunshine, which we had enjoyed all day. A day I will never forget and one of my most memorable experiences.
Part six of Kate’s diary will appear soon