Swiss tennis icon Roger Federer visited the rural village of Govhu outside Malamulele on Tuesday, and not for tennis but to motivate the pupils of the local crèche.

Federer, who is at present ranked the second-best tennis player in the world, and his support staff spent most of the day playing with the children and interacting with crèche staff. “I like working with children. They are the same age as my kids and they remind me of them,” he said.

He visited the village as part of the Read Foundation's crèche project. As part of the project, he attended a class with the pupils and also told them about the importance of reading. Interestingly, when he showed them a picture of a fox, the children all said it was a dog.

When he was introduced, everyone went crazy. Federer was mobbed frenziedly by the teachers and members of the community, who appreciated the presence of a world star from abroad in their village.

One of the teachers, Ms Tsakani Mathebula, said that she and her fellow teachers were overwhelmed that someone like Federer had come to their village. “The children are ecstatic, as you can see from the way they mingle with him,” she said. The Govhu crèche started in 1993 and has 72 pupils.

Mathebula said as part of the project they were receiving study materials. “We are also trained by the Read Foundation, which organises workshops, and their contribution is invaluable."

Federer has been supporting the children in Limpopo through the Growing to Read Foundation. The total support for this initiative is reaching an amount of about 900,000 Swiss francs (about R8.65 million) over a period of three years (2012-2015).

Since 2010, the Roger Federer Foundation has been supporting the Limpopo Growing to READ project to give children of this impoverished province a better start to their schooling. Here the children are taught the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic.

In 2011, the programme was expanded to the Grade R level – the pre-school year children have to pass before starting primary school. Importantly, parents are being involved through special workshops where they discover how to help with their children’s education.

Due to the excellent results of the first two years, READ is now able to extend the programme to another 25 crèches.

The Limpopo programme encompasses establishing and supporting 40 day-care centres and 15 Grade R-level classes.

Children will then move from day-care centres to Grade R-level and to primary school (provision of infrastructure). They will participate in practical games with sufficient material and equipment. The teachers will also receive advanced training and will host regular parent seminars.