Boy Who Made Makeshift Arsenal Jersey Earns AFCON Trip

Lawrence Masira, the boy who received a gift hamper from Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil has earned himself a free trip to Egypt for the Africa Cup Of Nations championships(AFCON).

The young die-hard Arsenal fan is among the team of five children that are to escort Kenya National football team Harambee stars to Egypt.

This series of good luck for Lawrence came after journalist Eric Njiru took a photograph of the boy in his makeshift jersey and uploaded it on social media, drawing the attention of Ozil who gifted him and his brothers signed jerseys and boots.

According to reports by Citizen Digital, AFCON sponsors, Visa, began a two-week campaign aimed at selecting five children from Kenya between the ages of 6-10 of either gender, who will take part in the approaching championships as player escorts.

“We want to bring back to life our sponsorship together with football community, we are allowing kids to travel to Egypt to be players’ escorts and travel alongside talented players in the continent with their players being proud of the moment, and we as a brand we focus on nurturing talent," Visa explained in a statement on Tuesday

Judges for the ongoing selection process consists of five Kenyans whose rise to grace involves inspiring stories.

The five judges, who will select that final five escorts from the seven who will be nominated by the public include, former Harambee Stars coach Jacob Mulee, comedian Felix Odiwor alias Jalas, gospel artist Kambua Manundu and business executive Kim Ndirangu.

The championships, that will be held as from June 21 to July 19 this year in Egypt, will have the escort team selected in the next two weeks.

The initiative, that has been going on across Africa is open to both genders, will nominate five out of the 1,100 children with amazing inspirational stories.