QUOTE(Ingenioso. @ Jul 19 2006, 06:46 PM)
A Scottish team going to South Africa to promote the World Cup, what has the world come to
Should only be good for the country, who need to bolster their profile before the World Cup.
We're just taking a chance to scout out the country where we will win the World Cup
We avenged our 2-0 defeat against Jomo with a 1-0 win over them. From what I've read though they fielded a lot of youngsters in the team today, like what we did in the first game.
Our players didn't get to met Nelson Mandela yesterday. They were due to but it was cancelled although there is still hope that the team will met him before the club returns to Scotland. As part of their day off yesterday the team visited Soweto. Winger Jamie Smith found the visit to an orphange in Soweto a powerful and moving expierence.
QUOTE
Visiting the Othandweni Children's Home was a life changing experience for me.
It was the biggest shock to the system I've ever had.
Every city in the world has bad areas, but I've never experienced the likes of what I saw here in Johannesburg.
What made it worse is this area is just a 30-minute bus ride from the five-star hotel that has offered us every luxury since our arrival last week.
How can South Africa be talking of spending millions to host the 2010 World Cup finals when stopping their own children from suffering should be the priority?
I have three children of my own and the thought that youngsters like them are living as they are in Soweto reduced me to tears.
I knew it wasn't going to be a nice experience, but I had to go.
If everyone turned their back on the conditions for children like those at the home it will never improve.
I've always thought of myself as a charitable person. Standing orders come off my wages for various good causes and have done so for the last five years or so. But it's not until you experience things first hand you realise what I, and millions of others, do is just a drop in the ocean.
It was great to see the children smile. It pleased all of us to think we had contributed to giving them some respite, no matter how brief. But, after speaking to the staff at the orphanage, I know there are horror stories behind most of those smiles.
Anyone who visits South Africa must make a point of organising tours similar to ours. They must help to make more people aware of the terrible conditions in which children - particularly those outwith the orphanages - are living.
Meanwhile, what I plan to do is become the driving force behind efforts to essentially get everyone at Aberdeen FC to 'adopt' the orphanage we visited.
I refuse to allow our contribution to be simply a one-hour wonder, handing out a few gifts.
Along with our captain Russell Anderson, I will make sure things are followed through to give the Dons players of today - and those of the future - the chance to make a positive contribution.
It still won't be much when you look at the sheer scale of what is happening in Soweto.
But if it helps give even one of the children there a happier life it will have been worthwhile.