Nigeria Ex Tennis Star, Da-Silva, Puts

Smile on Faces of Less Privileged in Lagos

For many Nigerians living with disabilities and the less privileged in the society, Christmas could not have come earlier for them as the Destiny Ford Da-Silva Foundation, propelled by Nigeria’s former tennis international, Destiny Da-Silva, put smiles on their faces by showering them with various goodies at the National Stadium, Tennis Court Complex, Surulere, Lagos, yesterday.

According to Da-Silva, he has been supporting humanity in his small way long before now.

“Destiny Ford Da-Silva Foundation is a give-back foundation. I grew up to be like one of these people that you’re seeing todayand struggled from pain to gain. So, I felt led by God to do something for the less privileged. That is how I drew the inspiration because I have to give back from what I got from the society,” Da-Silva told THISDAY.

The former number one rated tennis player in the country noted that this was not the first time he is involved in such charitable quest.

“This is not the first time I’ll be doing this. I have been doing it silently through the help of God and my mentor, Walter Akpani, who inspired me to be somebody in life, which inspired me to be involved in humanitarian endeavour silently. But when the Holy Spirt ministered to me early this year, that I have to take it to another level, so I felt this festive period being a Good Friday, I  decided to put smiles on the faces of 300 people, but along the line I felt I could do more with what God has blessed me with and decided to take the number to a thousand through the help of the Holy Spirit and to the glory of God we are doing over a thousand today.

“I’m doing this to the glory of God and not for any gain or political motive. As you can see them, they are happy, there is a smile on their faces and that is my own gain. I want to put smiles in the society and change the narrative that an athlete can do something for the less privileged in the society. I want to make a statement with this that even an ex-elite pro can pull this kind of crowd and not only the politicians,” he expressed.

Asked how he hopes to sustain this big venture, he said, “The sustainability is from God. It’s God that will sustain it. It’s God that commissioned this project, not me. I am just an ambassador of Christ; He is only using me out of the billions of people in the world. I don’t get scared about sustainability, come next year the project would be bigger than this. The next festive period would have triple this number.”