Serena Williams, tennis champion and HP brand ambassador, is visiting South Africa to endorse HP as a technology innovator, and to support a local not-for-profit organisation helping children affected by HIV/AIDS. And she’s uploading photos of her trip from her Blackberry …
Serena Williams is in Johannesburg today to visit the newly launched HP Experience Store in Sandton City and to showcase HP’s range of consumer notebook and desktop PCs to the South African public.
Serena gets herself snapped on her Blackberry
She is also here to work with the Starfish Greathearts Foundation, an international development charity which aims to bring life, hope and opportunity to children in South Africa, who have been orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.
She has been taking photos of the kids – and posing with them for others to take pics for her – on her Blackberry mobile phone, and uploading them to her web site at http://serenawilliams.com/home/. She’s also a keen user of MySpace, with a page at http://www.myspace.com/serenawilliams.
From Serena’s Blackberry … posing with kids at a tennis clinic in Johannesburg
“I’m back in Africa. For the first time I’m visiting Johannesburg – South Africa,” ,” she writes on her web site. “I’m here as a Global Ambassador for Hewlett Packard (HP). As a Global Ambassador I am traveling to different countries to promote HP’s products, as well as participating in local charities to help people. Earlier in March, I went to India to promote the new HP computers- the super compact designs! It was awesome fun!”
The products she is helping launch in Johannesburg today are:
“Today I’m working as an HP Ambassador in Johannesburg and we are working with the Starfishgreatheart Charity,” she continues. “These kids are mostly born with AIDS and they don’t have the care that they need or can live with. The kids I met today were orphans. It was so sad to see them in this situation. They had so much hope and love in their eyes, yet a ting of sadness behind their pupils bringing me to tears.nn“Today we had a clinic with the kids! It was so fun. By the end of the day all the kids were laughing, smiling, and having the time of their lives!!! I was so happy for them! I saw a girl that was sooo pretty. I kept thinking she is too pretty and her personality is too big to have AIDS. It was sad to see. You realize that AIDS has no discrimination and no barriers It pained me to see such wonderful kids with sadness in their hearts, but hope and love in their eyes.”nnWilliams points out that HP also donated funds to the Starfishgreatheart Charity.
“They are such a great company to be involved with working with such wonderful charities. I hope to see these kids again, and I hope today that we affected their lives by bringing life into their eyes and into their souls. I’m going to be in Africa for a little over a week. On Thursday we are going to Kenya to do the same thing. Let us all appreciate each day we have, and love each day.”
Williams’ appearance marks the beginning of a broader roll-out of HP’s retail strategy.
From early 2009, HP will add five new HP stores-in-store across Johannesburg and Pretoria.
“HP products are both stylish and innovative, designed to fit perfectly into the lifestyle of the tech-savvy consumer,” said Paul Boshoff, General Manager, HP Personal Systems Group, South Africa.
“The HP brand is perfectly aligned with what Serena Williams represents: quality, style, and most importantly, champion performance.”