WINDHOEK – Global tennis icon and 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer will this week embark on his famous Africa Tour, which will also see him play his first-ever match in Sub-Saharan Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, this coming Friday.
Dubbed The Match in Africa, Federer’s opponent on Friday will be 19-time Grand Slam champion and rival Rafael Nadal. The match will be played to support children’s education in Africa, particularly in southern Africa, and it will be the sixth edition of this event, but the first to be played on African soil.
As part of his humanitarian efforts through the Roger Federer Foundation, the 38-year old Swiss tennis star will also be visiting Namibia. He is set to arrive tomorrow and depart on Wednesday for neighbouring South Africa ahead of the much-awaited match in Africa showdown against Nadal on Friday.
The Roger Federer Foundation has over the years been active in Namibia, strengthening the quality of early childhood education in vulnerable communities. The foundation has been hard at work in Namibia, ensuring needy children are developmentally on track in health, learning, as well as psychosocially before they enter primary school.
The main goal of the foundation’s new School Readiness Initiative, which started in January 2018 and will be running until the end of 2025, is to secure a good start in primary education for vulnerable children aged between three and eight.
By the end of the initiative, 80% of Namibian girls and boys would have had access to quality pre-primary education and will thus be ready for primary school. Furthermore, the initiative is aimed at helping the Namibian Government in meeting its obligations in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals.
According to information from LifeLine/ChildLine and Church Alliance for Orphans (CAFO), which are the foundation’s implementing partners, Federer will visit President Hage Geingob at the State House on Wednesday, as well as various schools and Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres that are beneficiaries of his foundation.
-ohembapu@nepc.com.na