Speaking from the latter nation last week — where he was serenaded with ‘Roger, our Father’ by schoolchildren — Roger explained that his mom’s South African heritage inspired the charity. “As I got older and got more money, I wanted to expand [to other countries],” he told Reuters. “When I arrived at the school and all of the children were singing, it was very emotional …. I didn’t really understand it at the beginning but I still had tears in my eyes.”
Students at the school — one of two schools RFF funds completely in Ethiopia — beat their benefactor in a 1K race and then had lunch together, where Roger patiently fielded their many questions, including whether he has children of his own. Answering in the affirmative, Roger said he hopes the foundation will someday be run by Myla and Charlene. “I definitely want to show them that this world exists as well,” he explained. “There’s no way around it for them because I’ll be traveling.”
“It will be a very exciting 10 years for me because I’ll be trying to educate and help them and show them all these things.”
With a vision and slogan of “I am tomorrow’s future,” RFF provides sporting opportunities for children in Roger’s native Switzerland but is primarily focusing its time, energy and money on Africa. It offers charitable grant-making opportunities only in those countries which rank among the 50 poorest in the world, with child mortality rates of over 15% and where less than half of all girls attend the fifth grade.
http://celebrity-babies.com/2010/02/18/cau...rer-foundation/
