© UNICEF Zambia/2010/Nsama
A Zambian football fan blows the vuvuzela in Mongu Town, Zambia. The UNICEF-supported 'World Cup in My Village' education project has given villagers a chance to see their sports heroes play.

NEW YORK, 9 July 2010 – The World Cup in My Village initiative brings large open-air screens and projectors to show the matches in Mongu, Zambia and the Rubavu district of Rwanda.

More than 3,000 young people and their families in rural Rwanda watched the opening game of the World Cup. Since then, an average of 2,000 people have returned every night to watch the matches.

UNICEF spoke with two Rwandan school children, Ronald, 10, and Sandra, 12, who took part in this initiative, about what education and the World Cup means to them.

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UNICEF has been working with partners to bring the 2010 World Cup, the first World Cup to be held in Africa, to children and young people in communities in Rwanda and Zambia, who would not otherwise have the means to see it.

Read the full transcript of the interview with the Rwandan kids

Click here for more on the “World Cup in My Village” initiative.

Click here for additional info on Voices of Youth.

Related Story: “Rwanda’s Children, 14 Years After the Genocide” a special Beyond School Books podcast on Education in Emergencies.