We all remember that magical moment when Mr. Blatter slowly pulled out the envelope and announced that South Africa had won the rights to host the Soccer World Cup in 2010. With the announcements can wonderful visions of new train services, new stadiums, new jobs, community development, a “spring cleaning of our land” and everyone happy with the euphoria that such announcements create. Even in our industry we start getting quite excited at the potential influx of millions of Euro spending tourists hungry to buy everything African.
Out at Hadeda Creek, I approached the team for our quarterly meeting to discuss everything from catering, equipment replacements, mattresses, pregnancies, and a computer for the driver’s daughter who is just entering her matric year.
I turn the conversation towards 2010 and pose the question as to what we should be doing to take advantage of such an auspicious and historic event and to gauge from the team how they saw the future for themselves in 2010?
Before I enlighten you with the minuted outcomes of the meeting, I must explain the nature of the Hadeda Creek team. They are 20 loyal and industrious Parys based locals who have worked at Hadeda Creek for between 8 and 15 years. Many are related and some even have their children now working in the camp. Very few have any formal education, but they have an amazing ability to understand how to deal with corporate clients from the “big smoke”. They are never intimidated by the Gucci and Prada clad immigrants and have a wonderful knack of simplifying a conversation to issues of the heart as opposed to what is reported in Business Day.
The following was the outcome of the Hadeda Creek 2010 Indaba:
- Invite the “Brazilian Oke” to bring BafanaBafana to Hadeda Creek for a soccer and rafting camp
- Build a soccer field behind the high ropes for the teams to practice
- Make dumplings in the shape of soccer balls for the Oxtail Stew
- Have our rafting life jackets with pictures of the soccer stars
- Have each tent labeled as a soccer team