Award winning mountaineer, explorer, Guinness World Record holder and the first Black African woman to summit Mount Everest and ski to the South Pole, Saray Khumalo, is the Laureus Sport For Good Foundation SA’s newest ambassador.
The announcement was made at the Foundation’s annual Summit in Sun City, and sees her officially join the ever-expanding group of South African sporting icons – including Bryan Habana, Natalie du Toit, Lucas Radebe and Ernst van Dyk – who dedicate their time and efforts to uplift SA’s youth through the power of sport.
Khumalo is no stranger to using her sporting achievements and influence within the Sport for Development space. A believer that literacy and education can change the narrative for the next generation, she founded “summits with a purpose”, an initiative that builds physical and digital libraries in disadvantaged schools, and dreams of building a library in every country on the African continent.
Says Khumalo about her appointment, “I’m super excited to be invited as a Laureus ambassador. It is an honour to do what I love doing and make a difference in the process. It is time for our generation to change the world, one step at a time, and Laureus is an excellent partner to achieve this.”
Morné du Plessis, Chairperson of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation South Africa, says that Khumalo is an excellent example of how Sport for Development makes a tangible impact in social upliftment in South Africa. “Not every child needs to climb the highest mountain in the world, but through using sport and her journey as a hook and source of inspiration, Saray helps the youth conquer their personal mountains of literacy and education. We are happy that she has joined the Laureus family.”
The 2022 edition of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation SA Summit brought together Laureus SA Ambassadors, sponsors and partners, and Laureus-supported grassroots programmes for two days of networking, learning, creating new connections and exchanging ideas.
The event also coincided with the YES (Youth Empowerment through Sport) graduation, where a new group of community and Sport for Good leaders and changemakers were introduced.
Laureus Sport for Good Foundation SA funds supports and promotes the use of sport as a tool for social change.
The SA Foundation has a network of 35 Sport for Development organisations in over 100 communities, using sport in innovative ways to tackle some of society’s most pressing challenges facing our youth, including poverty, homelessness, gangsterism, violence, drug abuse, discrimination and HIV/AIDS.
To support this mission, Laureus Ambassadors – a select group of current and retired sportsmen and women who have achieved sporting greatness, or made significant contributions to the sporting community over the course of their careers – volunteer their services and time to represent the
Since its inception, Laureus SA has raised over R80 million for projects which have helped improve the lives of over 100,000 young people in South Africa.
Through the strategic six-year country patronship between Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) and Laureus SA, the partnership has supported the Foundation’s goal of enhancing social impact in a bid to expand efforts and achieve the ambitious agenda of positive, sustainable change and influence, to enable the youth to become active economic participants in society.
