News
Life Changes For Herdsboy Who Wore Scribbled Arsenal’s Ozil T-shirt As He Lands A Contract With Visa
In March this year while going through his normal duties, Sports journalist, Eric Njiru, cane across a herdsboy with an old T-shirt scribbled with Arsenal’s players Mesut Ozil name on the back. With the nose for news, he thought it would make an interesting story, more so, he saw a poor boy who loved Ozil.
Eric took the photo of the 9-year-old Lawrence Masira wearing the infamous shirt as he herded cattle in the capital, Nairobi and that photo which he later posted on Twitter would make the transformation and change Lawrence’s life forever if not now.
I saw this kid today grazing in the streets of Nairobi – a city without really grass for cows. He told me he loves @MesutOzil1088 so much(You can see his shirt). Maybe one day this can reach Ozil and get a real @Arsenal shirt. pic.twitter.com/ojDbf1Loil
— Eric Njiru (@Erik_Njiru) December 3, 2018
That particular tweet gained so much traction that it went globally viral. It eventually caught the attention of Ozil himself. Working through the journalist, Mesut sent autographed Arsenal merchandise not only to Masira but his entire squad of ten.
A few little presents for Lawrence's friends ??❤?? #M1Ö #Nairobi #M10Family pic.twitter.com/pgAVc7OZK8
— Mesut Özil (@MesutOzil1088) May 7, 2019
While most stories like that would die naturally, it was just the beginning. Barely two months later, Masira has bagged a lucrative deal with Visa.
Lawrence has been named the face of the programme ahead of the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt which will officially kick-off on Friday, June 21, and run for close to a month. He’s now the Visa Kenya Player Escort Programme Ambassador.
Meet the Face of Player Escort Program, Lawrence Masira. #VisaUnstoppableStories pic.twitter.com/NQ70xVc99h
— Visa Kenya (@VisaKenya) May 28, 2019
Together with his mother, they’ll travel to Egypt where the AFCON will be held. He gets to have a lifetime opportunity of escorting even international players to the field. This changes the young boy’s life forever because the ladder will keep going.
We wish him all the best.
Kenya Insights allows guest blogging, if you want to be published on Kenya’s most authoritative and accurate blog, have an expose, news TIPS, story angles, human interest stories, drop us an email on [email protected] or via Telegram
Kenyan player wins a Ksh3.2 million jackpot
IEBC Sets August 10 Date For 2027 General Election
Furious Ruto Lashes Out at Gideon Moi Over Repeated ‘Blackmail, Extortionist’ Headlines on The Standard and KTN
Mombasa Gripped by ‘Male Organ Theft’ Panic as Social Media Fuels Mob Attacks and Fear
TOO MUCH PR, NOTHING TO SEE: How Gladys Wanga Built a Perfect Story of Transformation While Homa Bay Bled
Netanyahu Says Israel Must ‘Break Free from Dependence’ After Tensions With Trump Administration
Niger pulls Out Of International Criminal Court After Calling It Neo-Colonialist
Kenya Awards Sh154 Billion JKIA Upgrade Tender To Chinese Firm CRBC
The Untouchable: How KURA’s Silas Kinoti Has Survived A Decade Of Corruption Storms While Kenya’s Roads Bled
Fake Papers, Dirty Millions And The Analo Connect: How Kitisuru MCA Alvin Palapala Built a Shadow Empire Inside Nairobi’s Planning Machine
Businessman Philip Waithaka Kinuthia’s Minor Son Allegedly Drove Drunk, Killed Two Peponi Students in Ngong Road Horror Crash as Claims of Cover-Up Intensify
Inside NCBA’s Decline: How a Banking Giant Lost Its Strategic Edge
South Sudan: Adut Salva Kiir’s Shadow Treasury Exposed
Cement, Cash and Courts: How the Hashu Dynasty Crushed the Ramji Brothers for Fourteen Years and Why the Walls Are Now Closing In
Standard Chartered Ghosts Haunt Joshua Oigara At Stanbic As Whistleblower Spills Beans
Inside The Urban Planning Cartel That Owns Nairobi
THE VULTURE AND THE SCHEME How Nairobi West Hospital Became the Most Dangerous Institution in Kenya’s SHA Ecosystem and Why the Books Must Be Audited Now
The President’s Daughter and The Missing Witness: How Adut Salva Kiir’s Shadow Treasury Silenced Its Most Dangerous Critic
How Adil Popat Saved His Empire On The Eve Of Imperial Bank Collapse and Why Kenya’s Mainstream Media Buried The Story
Why John Ngumi Is Running From the EACC and Why the Sh415 Million Payday May Be the Least of His Worries
-
News1 week agoBusinessman Philip Waithaka Kinuthia’s Minor Son Allegedly Drove Drunk, Killed Two Peponi Students in Ngong Road Horror Crash as Claims of Cover-Up Intensify
-
Africa2 weeks agoSouth Sudan: Adut Salva Kiir’s Shadow Treasury Exposed
-
Business2 weeks agoStandard Chartered Ghosts Haunt Joshua Oigara At Stanbic As Whistleblower Spills Beans
-
Investigations6 days agoTHE VULTURE AND THE SCHEME How Nairobi West Hospital Became the Most Dangerous Institution in Kenya’s SHA Ecosystem and Why the Books Must Be Audited Now
-
Africa2 weeks agoThe President’s Daughter and The Missing Witness: How Adut Salva Kiir’s Shadow Treasury Silenced Its Most Dangerous Critic
-
Business2 weeks agoHow Adil Popat Saved His Empire On The Eve Of Imperial Bank Collapse and Why Kenya’s Mainstream Media Buried The Story
-
Business2 weeks agoWhy John Ngumi Is Running From the EACC and Why the Sh415 Million Payday May Be the Least of His Worries
-
Business5 days agoInside the Billion-Shilling Betrayal: How Senior Treasury Officials Plundered a UN Poverty Fund and Built a Real Estate Empire on the Backs of Kenya’s Rural Poor