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| © UNICEF Liberia |
| Edwin, 15, part of the Wild Lion Football Club |
Playing for peace
On a dirt field behind the Catholic Hospital in Liberia, a football (soccer) match is under way. Teams of young people, many of whom were on opposite sides during the seven-year-long civil war, now compete peacefully, if passionately, on a football pitch.
Edwin, 15, lost his father and brother during the war. "We had no food to eat," he says. "My father and little brother died of sickness."
Edwin now plays for the Wild Lion Football Club. He has a football scholarship to attend a local high school. Sports have been a big help for Edwin emotionally. "Football," he says, "makes me feel happy."
"Football makes me feel happy."Each Saturday morning, scores of young people gather to take part in sports, drama and music programmes that are part of the Support to War Affected Youth (SWAY) project. After joining the project, none of the young people have taken up arms in the recent border conflicts, despite recruitment in their villages. And the teamwork learned on the sports field has spilled over into how they treat each other in their daily lives.
With each new match, a bit more healing takes place. "It does not depend on tribe," Claude says of his team-mates. "We come together as one."
Liberia is not the only place where football and other sports are helping young people get an education. In Brazil, where football is a national passion and 1.3 million children are not enrolled in school, a programme called 'Spaces of Hope' reaches out to poor children in urban slum areas. As part of the project, two members of the Brazilian national football team have founded centres that combine study and sports. Meanwhile, in an adolescent detention facility in Curitiba, southern Brazil, football provides an important way for troubled young people to channel their energy, frustrations and anger.
These are just three examples of the large number of projects around the world linking sport and education. Because it's fun, sport can help get young people involved in learning — and keep them involved. Sports are also good in themselves: they keep you fit and promote teamwork, communication skills, self-respect, a respect for others and a respect for rules. Though there are, admittedly, one or two professional footballers who don't seem too strong on the last couple of points …
