For the young sport stars at Zwelihle Primary School, stepping onto a sports field meant playing a sport without a proper kit – until the Alam family changed that by donating new soccer and netball kits.
Alam Transport donated the kits to the school on Wednesday 20 May as part of giving back to the community that has supported their business over the years. This is according to Sinazo Alam, a representative of the family.
For over 20 years, Alam Transport was led by the late Julia and Jeffrey Alam, providing transportation to local commuters. The donation of the kits is just another way of giving back while inspiring hope to the young athletes and youth of the community.
“[We are] donating these outfits to the school as part of giving hope to our future soccer stars and netball players,” says Alam, adding that this is for the “children who [see] an opportunity to become a soccer star in the future”.
The handover, which took place at the school premises, saw learners receive new game sport kits with teachers and representatives from the family in attendance. Hermanus Times also attended.
For Zwelihle Primary, the donation is more than just kits and uniform for the field. It is a sporting identity that they will not have to borrow anymore, according to the school principal, Nceba Laphi.
“We mainly depend on the sponsors,” he says. “When we played the competitions, we had to get the kit then because we didn’t have [our own].”
He added that most of the learners at Zwelihle Primary come from the “remote area where they don’t have much income, so that is why [we] had to be sponsored”.
Teachers and sport coaches accepted the donations and the excitement for the next sport season could not be contained as the young athletes wore their new kits with pride.
“We are very excited. We waited for this day that [the Alam family] promised us,” says Laphi. “We knew that they would make it happen, but we were so excited because it was for the first time that we get our own kits.”
Zwelihle Primary School is the second school to receive kit donations from the Alam family and Alam Transportation. Just days prior, Lukhanyo Primary School, a school once overcrowded with learners prior to the establishment of Zwelihle Primary in April 2010, received their brand-new sport kits sponsored by Alam Transport.
In the area, most of the schools receive sponsorships for kits during games, which they often must give back for the next school teams to use when it is their turn to play, according to Laphi.
“We don’t have the luck to get sponsorships for kits that become ours. So, this was the first time that we get the kit especially in our area,” he says.
