Cricketers Visit Youth Programme in South Africa
29/Sep/2009
Some of Sri Lanka's top cricketers visited a local youth programme on whilst in South Africa for the ICC Champions Trophy to pledge their support for adolescents living with HIV.
THINK WISE champion and Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, along with team-mates Angelo Mathews, Chamara Kapugedera and Lasith Malinga, met with young people affected by HIV at the WITSECHO Adolescent Sprint Holiday Progamme as the Katlehong Art Centre near Johannesburg, South Africa.
The visit was organised by one of UNICEF’s local partners, ECHO, which serves more than 11,000 South African children and their families and helps to provide approximately 10,000 children with anti-retroviral therapy.
Following a fun fielding session at the start of the visit, the cricketers heard from the programme directors and the people they have helped about the important work that the clinic carries out to allow adolescents to develop important life skills.
Sangakkara said: “As an ambassador for the ICC’s social responsibility programme THINK WISE, it is fantastic to be here today to see firsthand the work that local partners carry out to tackle HIV.