SEND INDIAN TEAM OF SLUM KIDS TO STREETFOOTBALLWORLD

Summary:

When he was only eight years old, Akhilesh Paul who lived in a shanty in the Indian city of Nagpur had already fallen prey to addictions like smoking and gambling. By the time he was a teenager, he had dropped out of school, conducted several robberies and eventually became a dreaded criminal in the area. Today, he plays football, and teaches the sport to many a youngsters in difficult situations.

For the last fifteen years, a nonprofit organization run by the father-son duo of Vijay and Abhijeet Barse is using football as a means to improve the lives of kids living on the streets and in slums of Nagpur. Till date, they have been able to positively influence the lives of 90,000 kids from marginalised sections of the society. A hundred of them have even represented the country in several international competitions including Homeless World cup where the Indian men's team emerged victorious last year.

Team SlumSoccer now wishes for six of their young and enthusiastic members, three boys and three girls, to represent their country at the upcoming Street Football World Festival at Lyon, France. For this, they need to raise funds required to buy the team their kits, conduct the visa formalities and to arrange for traveling to France. We appeal you to contribute towards this effort in any way you can, by contributing funds or spreading the word about it.

How it started:

Sports teacher Vijay Barse observed how an activity as mundane as playing football brought wide smiles on the faces of the children from a slum located near his college. He started inviting the kids more often to participate in the game. Soon, he got much appreciation from the parents. Since all the adults from these slums had to go to work, nobody was left to watch over their kids. In the absence of supervision, many of the kids got involved with anti social elements and would emulate their behaviour. Being busy playing football through the evenings didn't leave them the energy or the inclination to mix with the wrong crowd.

This observation was what led to Barse Senior formally starting the Slum Soccer in 2001. Abhijeet joined him in 2010, eventually taking over the day to day running of the organisation.

Taking it beyond the field:

“My father, being a teacher, thought that since the kids were spending several hours with us playing football, we could utilize this time to imbibe some lessons and morals into them as well. Now, many of these kids have either dropped off school or don't take it too seriously. Football became our medium of instruction to fill the gaps in their knowledge and even to introduce new concepts,” said Abhijeet.

Over the years, Slum Soccer has developed an entire curriculum. Alongside teaching math and English, the instructors of the NGO also inculcated some financial literacy and gave lessons in hygiene and sanitation. Other communication and characteristics that they thought the kids ought to learn about were also added to the set of lessons. These included sex education, leadership, decision making and even gender equality.

When they realised that there was widespread misogyny among the kids, volunteers of Slum Soccer tweaked the rules of the games being played. “We observed that boys would not pass the ball to the girls. We introduced rules like every boy had to pass the ball to a girl, and when a girl scores a goal, it's counted as two points for the team. This ensured increased participation from girls and soon they were playing in the team based on their merit,” informed Abhijeet.

The Rewards:

The Barses believe that despite the odds that they faced in order to continue their mission of improving the lives of kids from underprivileged families, the rewards have been many more. The biggest of them being giving several youngsters the guidance and encouragement needed to choose the right path. Kids whose own parents had given up on them and resigned to the idea that they would end up becoming criminals, chose a more honorable way of life because of their love of football and their association with Slum Soccer.

Some like Varsha Deshmukh didn't even have parents. When she was 16, she and her younger brother were turned away from an orphanage they were living at. When she was trying to eke out a living while living in the slums, Slum Soccer volunteers came across her. With their help she could get a scholarship to complete her education. Six years later, she is working as a nurse.

Shubham Uikey from Gadchiroli, a Naxal infested and underdeveloped town near Nagpur, was disillusioned with life when he first came to play football. A few years later, he returned to the ground with a special announcement - that he had decided to join the police force.

Streetfootballworld

Streetfootballworld Festival 16 is a global celebration of football's positive potential. Hosted by Sport da lans Ville, the event will bring together a global mix of disadvantaged young people who have earned their place on the pitch through their commitment to using football to change the world for good. Festival 16 is an official event of UEFA EURO 2016 and will take place in the heart of Lyon from June 28 to July 7.

Impact:

Homeless and slum communities host a variety of complex issues on a daily basis. Prominence of sexual and domestic abuse, unemployment, alcoholism, drug usage, malnutrition and mental health issues and a cycle of disengagement from the education sector almost condemn these communities to a continuing struggle - preventing them from being successfully involved in an already disparate society. Most of the underprivileged kids never get a chance to step out of their local towns/villages and become self-sufficient. In line with our mission of making these kids self-reliant and confident, we send out our teams to participate in global competitions to foster the belief of belonging to a special community and to expose them an open and welcoming environment Such once in a lifetime opportunity brings a drastic change to their lives by making them more confident.It rubs off on the other kids who want to improve themselves and be part of our delegation. The smile on the faces of these kids who don't have many reasons to be cheerful about and the satisfaction of playing a small part in changing their lives are all we seek