Bok Siya gives kids more reason to smile
IT was a double dose of smiles at Port Elizabeth’s Provincial Hospital yesterday when Springbok rugby player Siya Kolisi surprised a group of young patients and gave two of them tickets for this weekend’s test match against Argentina.
One of the boys has already undergone surgery, while the other must still have his operation.
But both will be well enough to attend the much-anticipated game at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
Kolisi delighted young and old at the hospital, greeting the staff and other patients, and playing with children due to undergo life-changing surgery as part of the Port Elizabeth leg of Smile Week.
The visit was organised by Smile Foundation project manager Tanya Jackson, who took a chance and raced to the Five Ways intersection, where tickets were being given out, to ask the players to give a little of their time to the children.
“As soon as I heard on the radio that they would be handing out lastminute tickets around Five Ways, I drove to the intersection,” she said.
“[I] saw Siya’s manager Marlon [Kruger] and Siya himself and pulled my car over, quickly running to them.
“I stopped them and said, ‘we’re having Smile Week at Provincial Hospital, could you please come visit the children?’
“Marlon told me he would organise it. I then sent him a WhatsApp message an hour later. He responded and said that he and Siya would be coming to the hospital. ”
Jackson said the pair had interacted with the children and handed out eight tickets to the two boys.
Overwhelmed by the attention and the tickets, Yaseen Albany, 13, who had just come out of surgery, said: “Wow, I can’t believe that Siya Kolisi came to see me today.”
When Kolisi had asked Yaseen earlier if he would be watching the match on Saturday, Yaseen said he would love to but had no tickets.
Kolisi then whipped out four tickets and handed them over.
Shortly afterwards, Yaseen was discharged from the hospital and given the go-ahead to attend the match.
Kolisi said: “It’s easy for one kid to bully another because [he or she] looks different to them.
“The Smile Foundation is helping the children today to actually get their smiles back.
“I’m just hoping there are a lot of other people who are going to find out about the good work they do so they can also come to the hospital and help in whatever way they can.”
Smile Foundation chief executive Hedley Lewis said: “This is great to witness as Siya has shown us that he doesn’t only love his country through the field, but that he also supports his country by coming to make a difference to the children here today.”