Africa Dream Soccer Tour launched in Rwanda

The inaugural ‘Africa Dream Soccer Tour’ organized by Honda Estilo Corp. and to be carried out in three African countries was launched on Saturday in Rwanda. The function to officially start the ‘Rwanda leg’ of the tour running, under the theme, “Teaching soccer to African refugees and disadvantaged children to support their future careers!” was held at Centre Cyprien and Daphrose Rugamba (CECYDAR) in Kicukiro district, City of Kigali. Over 40 boys, aged between 13 and 16 years will benefit from the training camp that will be done in two phases, with the first beginning yesterday and will until mid-January, 2018 while the second phase will be in October. The camp was launched by the Japanese envoy to Rwanda, His Excellence Takayuki Miyashita and it was attended by CECYDAR president Claudine Ngezahayo and the Centre’s Director, Joseph Bitega among others. Japanese envoy to Rwanda, HE Takayuki Miyashita (C) and CECYDAR president Claudine Ngezahayo, pose for a photo with children and coaches. F. Bugingo Ngezahayo, the head of CECYDAR, said, “We’re proud that Honda Estilo chose us to carry out his dream project, it’s sign of confidence in CECYDAR and what we do, thank you.” HE. Miyashita said that, “We are here for the first day of Africa Dream Soccer Tour – this is a great project, which, together, will benefit up to 1000 children in the three countries on Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.” “This is purely a private project but the country (Japanese embassy) is involved because we see its importance in helping the vulnerable children in the worst conditions. We want to see the project become successful,” he noted before urging the young players to have big dreams. Training will be done by two Japanese coaches from Soltilo Familia Soccer School”; Shuzo Sakamoto and Daichi Motomatsu, who have been in involved in similar camp in Zimbabwe and Uganda respectively. Motoki Futamura, the African Regional Director for Honda Estilo. According to the organizers, the ‘Africa Dream Soccer Tour’ is aimed at providing soccer lessons to vulnerable children living in slums in hope of these children “finding their dreams and hope.” The project is run by Japanese international Keisuke Honda and supported by Car-Tana, who deal in Japanese used cars. In Kenya, the camp will run from mid-January 2018 to mid-April for round one and the second round will be carried between July and September, while in Uganda, it will run from April through May for the first phase and the second will be in November. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Africa Dream Soccer Tour launched in Rwanda