OUR kids are coming home – finally!
With tears of relief and joy flowing down her cheeks, Rabia Jones confessed that she can now go back to leading a normal life.
This comes after she received good news on Friday morning that her husband, Nasar, and son, Nasrud-Deen (17), along with Zubair Khan (14) and Abdul Baasit Taylor (21), are finally coming home.
They were left stranded in Istanbul for more than two weeks following an international tour under the Greensmile Foundation that went horribly wrong. The remainder of the tour group had already returned home last Wednesday.
“Our prayers have been answered,” an overjoyed Rabia told our website.
“I mean it’s been more than two weeks now. They left for Turkey when the schools just closed, and the new term started again.
“Their whole holiday was a disaster. My son is in matric, and he has a lot of catching up to do as he has already missed the winter school and cannot afford to lose out on more work,” said Rabia.
Rabia said besides dealing with her concerns and trauma for her son, Nasrud-Deen, she also had to learn that her husband Nasar also went through an emotional ordeal after he was locked up in a local jail in Ankara.
“He was locked up because he did not have his passport on him,” Rabia explained.
“He informed the Turkish police that the hotel, which is like five minutes away, had confiscated all of their passports due to security reasons. It was because the accommodation wasn’t paid for.
“My son had to look for his father’s whereabouts as he was taken to another City which was hours away from Ankara.
“Look, there are many questions and things not adding up, but for now we are just glad it will all be behind us now and our loved ones are coming home,” Rabia concluded.
The tour led by Fadiel Gasant (CEO), under his Greensmile Foundation banner, was supposed to be a “life-changing” opportunity for a group of 64 local soccer players accompanied by some parents, but instead, it turned out to be a “horror show” with many twists, turns and unanswered questions.
Shehaam, the mother of 17-year-old Khan, who had to raise more than R260 000 for the trip, has subsequently lost her job due to this terrible ordeal.
“I was in an emotional state and couldn’t focus on anything else but my son’s well-being and safety,” Sheyaam stated.
“I can only imagine the horror show it was for the boys. How could I focus on my job not knowing if my child is safe or not?”
Another parent Tougieda Petersen said even though her son Nizamodien (15) came back last week already, she felt the pain and suffering of the rest of the parents.
“How could I be happy and at ease that my son is home while there are parents that are going through hell? Petersen pointed out.
“I mean my son came back as a different child. He does not want to hear of another tour. It was an emotional rollercoaster for us as adults. And what about the children?”
Petersen highlighted that Greensmile’s CEO Fadiel Gasant, raved to parents ahead of the trip that the tour will be a life-changing experience for the talented players made up of teams like Milano United, Connoisseur Spurs, D&G Orient and Pro Stars.
But Petersen says what was promised was not delivered by Gasant. “We have calculated the funds he collected from everyone and it came to an amount of over a million,” Petersen further explained. There were 64 on the trip at an average of R19 000 to R20 000 per head – so do the maths.
“Before we left it was said there would be boat trips and other promises which never happened. The boys had to play friendly matches against old timers made up of locals and to top it all, they called themselves PSG, but not from Paris, but Turkey. They were going to have scouts from all over the world and a big chance to get spotted, but it was all a lie, ” Petersen concluded.
Meanwhile, Gasant indicated that he is also relieved that the boys are coming home.
“Look, we had issues with Qatar Airways playing games with us,” said Gasant. “But I managed to pay for their flights back to Joburg. I had to pay penalties to book them flights to Cape Town, but that’s what I had to do to get the boys back to their families,” Gasant concluded
353 – Sheyaam Khan
030 – The touring group of players in good spirit before they left SA shores
080 – Nasar Jones (left) and his son Nasrud-Deen (17)
236 – Tougieda Petersen
432 – Rabia Jones
