Zimbabwean footballers delight kids from SOS Children's Villages

Over the weekend, the Zimbabwean national football team stunned children at the SOS Children's Village Waterfalls by taking time off their hectic training schedule to pay them a surprise visit. Upon arriving at the facility, the players mingled with the children and soon everyone started singing typical football anthems.

"I never thought these great guys would come and visit us at our home!" gasped young Tichaona as he gaped in amazement at his country's national football heroes. "This is the happiest day of my life! I mean, we only see these guys on television and today I had the chance to chat and actually shake Peter Ndlovu's hand."

Ndlovu, a former Sheffield United player who currently plays his club football for Sundowns of South Africa, told the children: "We are doing this today as a team because we play as a team and I can assure you that greater things are in the pipeline."

The visit marked the first to an SOS Children's Village of the national squad, but not Ndlovu's first. "As a team, this is our first time to donate towards the welfare of less privileged kids in our society, but I have visited here before with my manager on a similar mission."

The following day, a selection of 36 children in the care of SOS Children's Village, aged between ten and thirteen, escorted players from both teams onto the pitch for their African group 4 World Cup qualification match against Rwanda at the National Sports Stadium in Harare. The children sported t-shirts donated by the Zimbabwean International Football Association (ZIFA).

The children were able to watch the exciting match, which ended 3-1 for the Zimbabwean side, at the stadium. After an early fourth minute goal from the home side, the Rwandans levelled following an own goal shortly before the break. However, two further goals by the Zimbabweans before the final whistle had the children jumping up and down in joy on their seats along with the rest of the crowd.