Actor Idris Elba Accompanies
HBCU students in South Africa
Coca-Cola Gives 21 students the trip of a lifetime

Dreams can come true especially with the help of companies committed to furthering the cause of education for young adults. 

Recently, the Coca-Cola Company took 21 students from 12 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) on a once-in-a-lifetime journey to South Africa as part of the “Open Happiness Tour.”

The students were selected via a video contest that sought creative and inspirational answers to the question: How does the Coca-Cola RAIN “Water for Schools” program inspire you? The trip was part of a multifaceted sponsorship program inspired by the first FIFA World Cup™ held in Africa.  The RAIN initiative helps to provide safe drinking water for schoolchildren in Africa and around the world.

“The Open Happiness Tour allows Coca-Cola the opportunity to engage and inspire young African Americans while connecting them with their roots,” said Yolanda White, assistant vice president, African American Marketing, Coca-Cola North America. “We hope experiencing the diverse culture and meeting people who will be in South Africa for World Cup will inspire these students to view the world differently and make a commitment to creating a better place for everyone to live.

The students spent five days on the continent learning more about Africa’s water crisis. During their visit, the students met with executives from Coca-Cola South Africa, who shared what the Company is doing in support of the RAIN project and about other initiatives throughout Africa, including HIV/AIDS and malaria prevention, access to education, job creation and humanitarian assistance. In addition, the students will see first-hand the extreme need for potable water when they visit a local orphanage whose water system is in dire need of repairs.

The Company will make a donation to assist with the repairs of the water system and, once the project is completed, the orphanage will have clean running water for cooking, bathing and other necessities.

The students also explored more facets of South African culture including a trip to the Nelson Mandela National Museum, a Safari and they attended a FIFA World Cup match.

While there, they spent time with actor Idris Elba (Takers, The Losers, Obsessed, American Gangster), whose father is from Sierra Leone and mother is from Ghana.

Elba spent time with the students throughout the trip, discussing water stewardship and its importance to Africa and his passion for the World Cup, as well as providing his unique perspective on the local culture.

I spoke to Elba about his involvement with the students and the Coca-Cola team during the Essence Music Festival held earlier this month in New Orleans.  Of the extraordinary opportunity he said, “One of the most touching experiences in the whole trip to South Africa was going to a school just outside Soweto.  It was a very impoverished school and they were not expecting us. 

“There were probably 200 students there of elementary school age and a team of us, about 34 people who showed up on this big bus.  We got off the bus and told the kids that ‘we are here to see you.’ As a way of embracing us, they broke into song, each classroom and you could hear all these different pockets of classrooms singing their hearts out in different songs.  Some of us joined in; we danced for the kids, we played, and eventually that turned into a full show.  As black folk, you know, we just said let’s do a whole show, so we ended up doing this big show.  We performed for the kids and they performed for us and in the end, it was a group embrace. We gave them some money just as a token of our visit and it was all unplanned.”

Deeply touched by the experience, he went on to explain, “The whole trip was for us to be there, say hi and leave. However, it turned into a full concert, taking off our shirts, giving to them…you know.  They gave us gifts and it was such a moving experience. One of the most moving experiences I’ve ever had and it was great.”

Born of African parents, I asked if the African students viewed Elba differently than other black actors given his success as an American-based film star and to that he replied, “You know, first of all there’s a disconnect.  They connected me to my role in Daddy’s Little Girls (a Tyler Perry film).  That was the first thing they said to me.  In South Africa, they love that movie but the great thing is yes, they recognize that I am an African and they are also in awe of that fact--that an African, by way of descent is out there in a world they’ve seen only on television and in films. They look at it and say, ‘wow you’re African like me.’

“That to me is such a key component in the future work that I want to do in Africa.  My parents are from Sierra Leone and Ghana (West Africa).  Sierra Leone is in desperate need of so much help and in so many different ways.  I haven’t even set foot on my country (Sierra Leone) but I realize why.  It is because when I go, I don’t want to go empty handed.  I really want to bring a basket full of fruits and hopefully, stay as long as I can and do as much as I can.  So, that means schools and education in terms of health education; there’s so many key components that I could do.  Having them look at me and say, ‘you’re an African that’s done well in America, well I can go back and help and that’s something that I’m going to endeavor to do.” 

For more information about the Coca-Cola water stewardship programs, including the RAIN program, please visit www.coca-colacompany.com/citizenship.

More on Idris Elba

Previously best known as the calculating leader of a Baltimore drug empire in HBO’s critically acclaimed original series The Wire, British actor Idris Elba left the series in 2004 and went on to make his leading role debut in the HBO Original Film, Sometimes In April. A prolific run of leading roles in film followed, with Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls, the thriller The Reaping opposite Hilary Swank and the horror thriller 28 Weeks Later. Idris next starred in Ridley Scott’s award-winning film American Gangster and collaborated on its soundtrack with Jay-Z, before he returned to London to film Guy Ritchie’s RocknRolla. April 2009 saw Idris's crime thriller Obsessed, in which he starred opposite Beyonce Knowles, hit the number one spot at the US box office. 2010 has so far seen Idris bring Legacy, a thriller that he executive-produced, to the Tribeca Film Festival and star alongside Zoe Saldana and Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the Warner Bros actioner The Losers. Next up, in August 2010, Idris will headline the heist thriller Takers with Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, T.I. and Hayden Christensen and in 2011 he will be seen in Kenneth Branagh’s much-anticipated epic, Thor.

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