Stranded in Europe: 'We are lodging cases of child abduction, fraud, theft’ - Virgil Martin, parent of BT Football Academy member
Lester Kiewit speaks to a parent and Tracey Lange, who helped raise enough funds to get all the boys back home by Thursday.
Picture: Instagram
CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit speaks to Kfm 94.5 Mid-Mornings Presenter Tracey Lange and a parent of one of the boys who are stranded in Europe.
Listen below:
A group of 28 children from the BT Football Academy and their coaches who have been stuck in Lisbon, Portugal, are set to be back in Cape Town by the end of this week, thanks to the generosity of South Africans.
They were participating in an international tournament in San Sebastian, but on the day they were scheduled to return, the team discovered they had no return flights booked.
In an interview with Kiewit on Monday (21 July), Brandon Timmy of BT Football Academy and BT Travel explained that the academy cited delayed visa processing issues and a lack of funds, which disrupted their flight planning.
Thanks to the Tracey Lange Cares Initiative, which spearheaded calls for donations, enough funds were raised to bring them home.
ALSO READ: BT Football Academy group stuck in Portugal set to return to CT by Sunday.
ALSO READ: South African kids stranded in Europe as dream football trip turns into nightmare
The boys will return home on various flights.
Lange explains how 'phenomenal' it was to see everyone come together to help.
"Our greatest desire was that everyone has flights back home. The last group will arrive on Thursday afternoon."
- Tracey Lange, Kfm 94.5
"A big thank you to one of our biggest sponsors, Christ Culture Church, who had said, 'Listen, we're reaching out and whatever you don't have, whatever shortfall there is, we'll make it happen'... It really is phenomenal."
- Tracey Lange, Kfm 94.5
Kiewit spoke to Virgil Martin, a parent of one of the stranded boys of BT Academy.
Martin explains that this has been an 'emotionally draining' experience for parents and children.
He also confirms that parents are going to lodge 'cases of child abuse, abduction, fraud, and theft' once their kids are safe home.
"It's been emotionally draining for everybody... a happy ending only because of the help of the media. Parents are still very much emotional... there's going to be a lot of snot en trane at the airport."
- Virgil Martin, parent
"As a group of parents, we are going to be lodging cases of child abduction, fraud, theft... This mustn't happen again... something that has been initiated by the media... so thank you for Tracey and ministers like Randall McKenzie to follow through... It's always a case of being on the news for a day or two and then nothing thereafter... this is something our higher authorities should make sure doesn't happen again."
- Virgil Martin, parent
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.