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“We immediately discovered in him the makings of a great player” - Nine years of friendship, mentoring and support paves the way to Pierre’s football success

30/7/2018

Pierre Levington, an 18 year old from the ghettos of Port au Prince has recently signed as a professional football player for French team AC Ajaccio.

His career started out with local Haitian organisation FONDAPS, who we supported after the 2010 earthquake in their mission to to educate children from slum areas of the city, through sports.

FONDAPS is founded by Patrice Millet, a Haitian businessman who was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2006. This experience made him realise he wanted to dedicate his life to giving something back to the young people of his country.

Patrice says “Pierre joined us when he was nine years old. He stayed with us until his sixteenth year. He belongs to a family of six, who all live in a ghetto in difficult conditions. Upon his arrival at the club, we were struck by his talents and his love of football. We immediately discovered in him the makings of a great player”.

Patrice supported Pierre over the years, as he does with hundreds of children that attend his football coaching programme. FONDAPS focuses on sporting principles such as fair play, teamwork, respecting their coaches and their opponents; knowing that these values carry over into young people’s everyday lives.

“I had to persuade Pierre’s family to let him attend as he was not doing well in his school work. They were skeptical, but after many visits eventually gave in” says Patrice.

With intensive coaching and mentoring, Pierre’s talent for football progressed to a dazzling level. FONDAPS supported him in every area, enrolling him in school, providing extra tutoring for coursework and language learning, and even finding a safer home for his family.

At sixteen, Patrice advised him to join the sports club Saint-Louis in the 2nd Division whose owner, a friend of Patrice's, had contacts abroad. After six months, this friend took him to Bastia with two other players and only Pierre was drafted. FC Bastia climbed in the first division, but troubles with the French Football Federation relegated the club in National Division.

At this time AC Ajaccio contacted Leverton for a trial year and during this time he was invited by the Haitian Football Federation to participate in the qualifiers for the World Cup. In his new club, he soon was noticed by his coaches and after 14 goals scored this season, he has now signed a professional contract.

Our Executive Director Ben Wilkes says “Having worked with Patrice over the years, this is just one example that reflects not only his dedication, but what happens when you genuinely value children as individuals. It’s not just about football; the children receive mentoring and support in many aspects of their lives. Families receive food, none of the children he supports are involved in gangs, and hundreds access education and scholarships”.

We’d like to join FONDAPS in wishing Pierre ‘a long, beautiful and successful career’.

600 Dalit children enjoy Summer Camp in Patna

25/7/2018

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Through a multitude of games and activities, hundreds of children have expressed their hidden talents, developed their team work and learned about this year's theme; the importance of saving water.

Coming from 20 of the Learning Centres we support here, children sang about the ‘saving water’ theme each morning whilst waving flags and signs that they had made about the issue. They had practiced these songs at each Centre in the weeks leading up to the event to build excitement and give an opportunity to perform to their friends.

Through quizzes and ‘tug of war’ games, they learnt about issues that arise from water shortage, with the tug of war showing how many people have to fight for access.

Lessons in fine art were particularly popular with the children through the week. Using low cost materials, they created and painted beautifully intricate pieces (see top image) including paper aquariums, wall hangings and flower paintings. Those that participated showed real enthusiasm and eagerness to learn new methods and went on to share the teaching with other children in their Centres.

Children also found out about how water is vital for growing vegetables and learned how to prepare and beautifully present a range of salads. To add a little excitement, each creation was entered into a competition (see the winners above). Sister Veena who leads the work here said “Salad is not often part of their daily diets, so for many it was first time experience and we saw how their self confidence was enhanced”.

Games were a big part of the week and all the Centres competed against each other to win prizes, encouraging confidence, cooperation and team spirit. Veena said “Children enjoyed it thoroughly and learned a lot. They expressed such happiness and gratitude about the week, and it often helps to increase attendance at the Learning Centres”.

These Centres are child friendly environments for Dalit children who face severe caste discrimination as part of their daily lives. Work here tackles the barriers to education by providing a primary curriculum and supporting children to understand and realise their rights. Summer camps like this one, as well as celebrations, competitions, rallies and performances are all a vital part of the work, instilling confidence and encouraging self expression.

Find out more about the work we support in India, and consider getting more involved by clicking one of the action buttons below.

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Sustainable energy sources for Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong

20/7/2018

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Following our initial humanitarian response to the Rohingya refugee situation, and alongside our provision of education for 7,500 children, we have worked in line with Bangladesh Government strategy by contributing to sustainable energy sources in the Kutupalong Balukhali camp.

The hundreds of thousands of refugees seeking safety in this country have had little choice but to overburden the surrounding jungles in the Ukhiya hills. The Bangladesh Forestry Department has stated that the weight and rate of the influx has created an environmental crisis in the border district. Stripping away 4,000 acres of dense forest land; miles of tarpaulin and dust as far as the eye can see, has now formed the largest refugee camp in the world.

Ongoing fuel needs for the one million people trapped here vastly escalates this problem each day. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation Forestry Officer describes how “An average 1 kg of fuelwood per person is required every day for cooking, which corresponds to 800 tonnes of fuelwood per day for the Rohingya refugees in the camps. This means that forest covering an area roughly the size of five football fields is cut every day for fuelwood”.

Most staple food rations distributed here consist of lentils, beans and rice, which have to be cooked in order to be edible. Almost all families rely on small fires, often used in poorly ventilated spaces, but with prohibitive prices for market firewood, most attempt to gather it from the nearby forest. Children are often sent to collect firewood alone and, with disappearing reserves, trips of up to 12 miles each way can now take the entire day. To attempt to save firewood, some people undercook their food or skip meals.

As part of our discussions with local authorities when planning our Learning Centres in the camp, we agreed to source and distribute 500 gas stoves in the surrounding areas. This has provided around 3,500 people with a sustainable means of cooking and the Centres are being used as bases to provide training to use the stoves.

In addition to this, earlier in the year we provided high quality, portable solar lights to 5,250 homes. The Kutupalong-Balukhali expansion site is vast and remains mostly unlit. This heightens risks for everyone, but especially for girls and women who have often reported feeling unsafe going out after dark.

As well as issues of safety and functionality at night, the lights also help to curb the use of firewood. Mohammed (pictured below) and his family used to build a fire to try and create some light in the evenings, but the wood was too expensive and smoke poured into the shelter. Since he’s been using the light he has said “It’s better for my family. Now we can cook and clean in the evening, it gives light to the whole room”.

We have recently planted shrubs and flowers in the grounds outside each Learning Centre to begin to grow green oasis areas for the children within the barren landscape of the camp. In time we are hoping to grow vegetables in these spaces and raise funds for solar powered fans to cool the atmosphere inside.

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Child Protection Teams become go-to groups for reuniting lost children with their families

13/7/2018

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In the last few months, Child Protection Teams in Uganda have been called upon by police to trace two families of children stranded at local stations.

Nakku Sarah had a busy day planned when she was approached by the Officer in Charge at Masese I Police post. She has been a member of the local Child Protection Team in her area since it was set up in 2016. These groups of 10 elected and trained local volunteers work closely with their communities to create a safer environment for children in the slum areas around Jinja town.

Lost children are often brought to the teams by local people when found wandering, sometimes miles from home. Child Protection Teams have become the ‘go-to’ for their communities because of the dedicated work they accomplish on behalf of vulnerable children. Reflecting the quality of this work, they have quickly become the first port of call not only with residents but also with the local authorities.

That morning, the Officer told Sarah that they had a young boy left with them at the station, and no idea how to find his parents. A particular challenge to identifying his family and the whereabouts of his home, was communicating with the boy who is deaf, cannot speak and struggles to walk.

Sarah immediately agreed to begin tracing the boy’s parents. She notified the rest of the Child Protection Team who met to plan a way forward, in that meeting they focussed on engaging the community to see if anyone knew the family.

She said, “It was a really challenging moment for me, meeting a stranded child with many disabilities. While leaving the police post I kept on wondering what to do! But I am very grateful that as a team we were able to forge a way forward”.

After spending hours interviewing local people, the search did not turn out to be fruitful. Undeterred, the team approached ‘Kodheyo’; one of the local television station, and requested a five minute slot to show the boy and appeal to the public to help in finding his family. As a result, by the next day the boy’s family made contact with the Child Protection Team and the police reunited them with their son.

Sarah (pictured above) described how “Being a CPT member, I had to pick up my courage, because all I had to do that day was work for the betterment of this child’s life. I had to forego everything I had planned and help the child. I doubt whether I could have gone that extra mile had I not been a CPT member. From that day I realised that the way I look and address child protection has changed”.

A few weeks later, it was the Masese III Child Protection Team who were called on to help with a similar case. A missing girl ended up at the Central Police Station in Jinja town, and said she was from Masese III. After meeting the child, and conducting neighbourhood enquires, the team quickly found her parents, and were delighted to reunite the family.

Success stories like this are a result of teams working over months and years to forge a healthy connection between the community and the police. This work often takes the form of workshops and meetings, and has created a greater understanding, openness and trust between between local people and nearby services.

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“We immediately discovered in him the makings of a great player” - Nine years of friendship, mentoring and support paves the way to Pierre’s football success

600 Dalit children enjoy Summer Camp in Patna

Sustainable energy sources for Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong

Child Protection Teams become go-to groups for reuniting lost children with their families

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LATEST STORIES

“We immediately discovered in him the makings of a great player” - Nine years of friendship, mentoring and support paves the way to Pierre’s football success

600 Dalit children enjoy Summer Camp in Patna

Sustainable energy sources for Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong

Child Protection Teams become go-to groups for reuniting lost children with their families

RECEIVE OUR EMAILS

Blog Categories

Archives

Get Involved

aBOUT US

Registered charity no. 1101441REGISTERED COMPANY No. 4996130

Registered charity no. 1101441
REGISTERED COMPANY No. 4996130