Haïti - Pays en crise

Frontline Diary

18 August 2004: A game of unity for all Haitians

© UNICEF/2004/Morel

Roberto Carlos of the Brazilian national team signs a UNICEF t-shirt on a boy after the team's practice in Santo Domingo.

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During a historic goodwill football game promoting peace in Haiti, UNICEF will help bring to the world's attention the plight of Haiti's children. On 18 August, the national team of Haiti and defending World Cup champion Brazil will play a friendly match in the capital, Port-au-Prince, to promote peace and encourage armed factions to hand in their guns.

UNICEF's Patrick Slavin is covering the event and reporting on UNICEF-supported programmes for vulnerable Haitian children

SANTO DOMINGO, 18 August 2004 - It's important to put the Game of Peace into a proper perspective, as many may be wondering why a football match could be so important - especially for a country like Haiti where so many endlessly struggle just to survive.

I think Paulo Sassarao, UNICEF Haiti's Programme Coordinator, said it best. "This is about the self-esteem of the Haitian people. With the events of the past year, when the levels of violence were so high from January through mid-March, people have lost hope in the future. This match will contribute to Haitians recovering their pride, and hope."

When I was at Haiti's national stadium on Monday, a leader of one of the country's most popular bands, singer Theodore "Lolo" Beaubrun, Jr. of Boukman Eksperyans, was patrolling the sidelines cheering on the Haitian team, which was having a spirited practice session. Lolo has been in the streets fighting for majority rule and social justice in Haiti for nearly two decades.

"I feel great for the guys, for our team, and for the Brazilian team. The peace game is for all Haitians, of all social classes, to celebrate going forward," Lolo said. "This is a unity game for the whole country."

Also on Monday, when I visited Timoun ke kontan ("Happy Children"), the UNICEF-supported summer camps for some 15,000 poor children who lived through the violence and chaos of the winter months, I spoke with Ronnie Borgela, a 24-year-old camp counselor. Ronnie's 21-year-old sister, Nancy, a mother of two, was shot and killed in February. She was mortally wounded when a gun battle broke out at an open-air food market.

"This is the first big activity to help us save the country," Ronnie said, referring to the Game for Peace. "And for reconciliation. For our team can compete against the Brazil, we can work with the Brazilians, too." The UN peacekeeping force here is lead by the Brazilian military.

This is not the first time that football has been used as a diplomatic tool for peace, and also not the first time the Brazilian team has played the role of goodwill ambassador. In 1967, the Brazilians - lead by their great champion Pele - played a match in civil war plagued Nigeria. Combatants on both sides agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire so they could enjoy the superstars play.

In his classic book "Soccer in Sun and Shadow," the Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano writes of "the extraordinary soccer match between British and German soldiers on Christmas Day, 1915 in no-man's land. Under the magical influence of a ball appeared from who knows where, the battlefield became a playing field for a short while, until screaming officers managed to remind the soldiers that they were obliged to hate each other."

After his team practiced in Santo Domingo, the coach of the Brazilian team, Carlos Alberto Parreira, said, "We're going to Haiti to help stop a war."