Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, made time during a whirlwind trip to South Africa to visit  Grassroot Soccer in Soweto yesterday.  In between meetings with the Minister of Finance, business leaders, and students at the Witwatersrand University to discuss the challenges facing the South African economy, Mr. Strauss-Kahn was received at the George Ndlovu Stadium by Soweto Site Coordinator Gregory Laing, where 7th graders from Paul Mosaka Primary School were playing Risk Field.  After listening to the children discussing risks that can lead to HIV, Mr. Strauss-Kahn watched on as girls and boys played five-a-side soccer, and even got a chance to kick a soccer ball around himself!  (“I was a rugby player,” he conceded.)

Visibly moved by the experience, he called Grassroot Soccer an “inspirational group” and wrote later, “As I watched those children play, I was filled with emotion—and inspiration.  Yes, South Africa is going to meet its challenges.”

To learn more about Mr. Strauss-Kahns visit to SA, read the Huffington Post article here.

To see videos of the visit, click here, here, and here

To see a BBC picture, click here.