In May last year, Xcalibur Foundation in partnership with Real Madrid Foundation, MTN Uganda, and Youth Sport Uganda launched MTN Naguru Social Sports Academy.
The project’s core objectives were to keep kids in school, increase educational commitment, encourage healthy life habits, and convey life skills and values through football.
And on Saturday, July 1, Xcalibur and MTN Naguru Social Sports Academy organized a Children’s Fun Day at City High School in Kololo.
The Fun Day which was intended to enhance family involvement and foster community cohesion and engagement achieved just that as project kids and their parents as well as MTN employees participated in the day’s fun activities.
“This is a very important event because we are celebrating the achievement of these kids in the last year. They have grown in their personal life, in school and in their community so this is a day to celebrate those achievements.
“When you see these kids go to school that excites us. Our mission is education (formal or continuous). For us the personal growth of these kids is our priority because we want to create better people,” said Javier Lezcano, the Executive Director of Xcalibur Foundation.
“At MTN, we believe in the power of sport and its ability to transform children’s lives. We are happy to partner with Xcalibur Foundation who are very instrumental in nurturing children’s lives through life skills and sports.
“We realized that there’s a lot of engagement, kids express themselves better, they are engaged in school and it’s just not the children alone but the community. Xcalibur has impacted the community by engaging the parents and we see this is transforming people’s lives in the community and so we are happy to partner with them and enhance the lives of children,” said MTN Uganda’s Barbara Kiwanuka.
The Fun Day activities included musical chairs, skipping races, train-ball races, short relays, and watermelon smash among others organized and facilitated by Youth Sport Uganda (YSU).
“Today has been a very incredible MTN-Xcalibur Fun Day where we have seen children and parents very engaged in the games and we have seen that it has been an exciting engagement both for the children and parents,” Kiwanuka added.
The event was graced by former Uganda Cranes midfielder and Kampala Queens assistant coach Tony Mawejje as well as former Crested Cranes defender Jean Sseninde who encouraged parents to allow their children to take on both education and sports.
“Education is as important as sport so you need to get involved in both. As parents, you need to allow kids to get involved in all sports at this young age,” said Sseninde.