Goodwill Ambassador
Teen Girls Kick Goals The rains the day before have turned the fields into a muddy slush. The pitch is in no shape for a soccer match but this could not dampen the enthusiastic amateur players; their spirits were indomitable in spite of the mud and their total lack of football experience. The local organisers of the Kishori Abhijan (Adolescents' Journey) project had arranged indoor and outdoor activities to celebrate the visit by National Goodwill Ambassador Zobera Rahman Linu. Linu is a hero in Bangladesh for winning the national table tennis titles a record 16 times, earning her a place in the Guinness World Records. There was more fun than rules in the all-girls soccer game that was taking place in the water-logged school fields as the players splashed mud to chase the ball and each other - reeling laughter weakening their untutored kicks at the ball. An audience spontaneously gathered around the field, enjoying the novelty of the game. Linu could not resist for long, she threw off her shoes and joined the girls in the uproarious match, much to the joy of the players and spectators. Linu has come forward to champion the cause of equal opportunity for girls as a UNICEF National Goodwill Ambassador. Linu visited two of the Kishori Abhijan (KA) projects sites implemented by local NGO the Centre for Mass Education in Science (CMES) in Chandanaish, Chittagong, in the south-east of Bangladesh, to learn more about the project. Equality and empowerment for girls for them to avail equal opportunity is the spirit that the KA project also attempts to advance. KA shares life skills and livelihood skills with 600,000 adolescent girls and boys nationally. Life skills imparted though KA help the adolescents learn and practice decision-making, problem solving and negotiating. Through peer group discussions, they acquire knowledge on issues that directly and potentially affect their lives such as child marriage, dowry and HIV. As KA members become aware of these issues and adopt them into their lives, they also advocate in their families and communities, thus playing the role of change agents. Not only do they talk about issues, wherever appropriate, they act to stop child marriage, foil dowry practices and help adolescent girls come out to school and to work. Saki Akhter, 16, told how she had learnt mushroom cultivation through KA and now wants to be a mushroom trader. She studied up to class eight and has practiced math to be able to keep accounts of her business. “My family wanted to see me married by now as is the custom in the village. But I have been able to persuade them to allow me to learn skills and earn a living that is also going to benefit all of us. Sometimes the neighbours are even more limiting than one's own family. My neighbours were quite unhappy about my choice to start a small business and criticised my family for allowing it. However I have earned my mother's support and now I dream of making something of myself before I get married when the time comes.” The adolescents were also curious to learn about Linu and how she became a sports celebrity. “Through perseverance and determination,” was Linu's brief answer. Then she continued, “In the discussion regarding gender and equal rights for girls, the importance of sports and girls often gets lost. Important life lessons and formative values can be learnt from sports. These lessons come through practicing and preparing oneself, from hard work and competition, from following rules and building team work, on winning and losing well.” Children in this country, especially girls, often miss out on the lessons and the fun that can only come through playing to one's heart's content. Donor: European Union Commission
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