02 Jul 2014

A team of youngsters from Ramotswa-based South East Districts Youth Empowerment Association (SEDYEA) left for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 30.

The team will participate in this year’s Football for Hope Festival in Brazil, which is a part of the FIFA World Cup event.

The SEDYEA delegation is made of nine members, which included six participants made of three boys and three girls aged between 15 to 18 years as well as a youth leader, team coordinator and delegation leader.

Speaking during a send off ceremony in Ramotswa, Brazilian ambassador to Botswana, Mr Marcio Lage said football had the capability to bring people together.

He said the event will afford the youngsters an opportunity to share skills with fellow counterparts from round the world besides playing football. However, he pointed that football is currently the best sport in the world and it can be used to motivate and unite people.

Furthermore, Ambassador Lage pointed that Botswana as a football loving nation will benefit more as its youth gets used to exposure.

For his part, SEDYEA Director, Mr Kitso Masi said the event will attract 32 teams from various grassroots development organisation.  

Further, he said participants would gain leadership skills through cultural exchange programs with other football delegations, adding that their main aim is knowledge sharing through best practices. “The selection is not based on how good you are on the field. That is not our focus, “he pointed.

He explained that choosing representatives to the Football for Hope Festival was aligned to the SEDYEA mandate of behavioural change as a way of getting young leaders to a positive attitude as part of their development.

Mr Masi added that the event would be to celebrate the power of football for social development, adding that this would be the first time that Botswana would be represented.

For her part, Standard Chartered Corporate Affairs Manager, Tumie Ramsden said they are happy to have partnered with SEDYEA. 

She said this is part of the bank’s corporate social responsibility especially that it focuses on health and education, which are also a concern to the bank.

The tournament will take place from July 2 to 10, 2014. 

SEDYEA is the only FIFA’s Football for Hope Centre in the country. ENDS