SPORTS> Tennis
US tennis superstar due in Kenya Thursday
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-13 16:30

NAIROBI -- Tennis superstar Serena Williams arrives in Kenya on Thursday to open a school she has funded in collaboration with the Build African Schools Initiative and technology firm Hewlett Packard (HP).

Serena Williams of US celebrates after winning her match against Dinara Safina of Russia during their WTA Tour Championships match in Doha November 5, 2008. [Agencies] 

The world number three who was accompanied by her mother Oracene will officially open the school christened Serena Williams Secondary School which is located in Matooni, Makueni constituency near Sultan Hamud township in eastern Kenya on Friday.

The school was built through partnership between the Build African Schools initiative -- an American non profit making organization -- and Hewlett Packard, the world's largest technology firm.

The tennis superstar will just have enough time to rest before taking an early flight on Friday to Makueni in eastern Kenya, where she will open a secondary school that is named after her on Friday morning.

She will then return to the city, where she will pay a courtesy call on the Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Serena, the younger of the two Williams sisters famous for their tennis prowess, is on an African tour as the global ambassador for technology firm Hewlett Packard HP, who have teamed up with Build African Schools Foundation to put up learning institutions and fully equip them with computer facilities.

For the better part of this week, Serena has been on a similar trip in Johannesburg, South Africa, working with the Starfishgreatheart Charity for orphans infected with HIV.