Football gives young refugees chance to be normal in spite of tragedy

After a 100-day wait, the Premier League was kicked off this week with a powerful tribute to the NHS and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The football stars ran on to the pitch showcasing new team shirts, with a blue NHS heart-shaped badge on the front, while their names were replaced on the back with the words ‘Black Lives Matter’. 

As football fans waited anxiously for the game to begin, the teams held a minute’s silence in recognition of those affected by coronavirus. In that moment, people across the world were united through their television screens. 

For many refugees, football is the only constant in their lives – it is a lifeline to escape their troubles and integrate in new communities after leaving their homes behind. Ahead of World Refugee Day today, football project Goal Click and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), gave young people across the world a disposable camera to document what football means to them.

Ismail Abdalla in Kakuma, Kenya

For Ismail, who has been living in ‘disastrous’ conditions in a Kenyan refugee camp for the past decade, football gives him and his friends hope.

In 2010, the 29-year-old and his family were forced to leave their home in Kalemie, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for the second time after being relentlessly and brutally attacked in their village. 

Since then, he has been living in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where he volunteers as a programme manager with Faulu Production, a community-based organisation supporting refugees and disadvantaged women and children.

Ismail, who is passionate about his work, hosts football matches as a way of creating ‘social cohesion’ in the camp between refugees from seven different countries.

The volunteer told Metro.co.uk: ‘Football is a very helpful tool that brings people together and creates friendships. It offers more opportunities for young people to make friends and develop their careers in the future. It makes their life happier.’

In 1996, when Ismail was just six years old, his family fled DR Congo’s brutal conflict, known as Africa’s First World War which saw around five million people killed, and moved to Zambia – where he fell in love with football.

‘People had no freedom, no rights, it was terrifying,’ he said. ‘It was a long, dangerous journey to Zambia over three days. We were lucky we made it.’

Some years later, things appeared to be improving in DR Congo. Peace agreements had been signed and the militia had agreed to put down their arms, giving refugees like Ismail hope and they moved back in 2008.

But when they arrived, family members saw them as ‘strangers’ and conflict broke out over who owned the rights to land left behind.

‘They started violently and abusively targeting us,’ he said, adding that numerous members of his family were attacked with spears. My older brother was speared but by god’s luck the spear hit him on the left leg. He was left handicapped but he didn’t die, we thank god for that,’ he added.

‘I myself was a target. I was attacked twice with a gun. The second time was even more terrible.’

Despite reporting the attacks to local authorities, the family received no security and were again forced to flee and become refugees in Kenya, where they have stayed since.

‘In the refugee camp we have no right to freedom or movement,’ he added. ‘The living conditions in the camp are horrible – they are disastrous.’

Although some conditions have improved, refugees in the camp have limited running water and there is rarely enough food for everyone meaning they have to ration.

Despite the immense challenges Ismail continues to face, the volunteer remains positive and said he is thankful he can do something to help others – particularly through his love of football.

‘I dream for a bright future but up until now I have not had a way to reach that,’ he said.

‘However, I am thankful because together we can do something that is helpful not only to our community but for a brighter future for the country as well.’

Shogofa Rahimi in Sydney, Australia

Shogofa, from Afghanistan, said she developed a passion for football while playing with her brothers as a child. But she hesitated to pursue it further due to cultural barriers and disapproval from her family. 

‘A lot of people still don’t think Afghan girls should play sport, and this allows us an opportunity to prove them wrong and stay active and socially connected,’ she said.

‘I want more and more Afghan girls to dream big and follow those dreams. Too many of our girls are not following their dreams because of cultural, family and financial barriers. None of our girls played football back in Afghanistan because girls were not allowed to play.’

Yvan Bikambo in Mandjou, Cameroon

Project manager for NGO Red Deporte, Yvan said most of the children he works with do not want share stories about their traumatic experiences.

‘Instead we work to bring them joy, peace and hope through our programme,’ said Yvan. ‘Although I noticed that many of the refugee children, when they were asked to draw something from their country, they often drew soldiers and airplanes, especially the boys.

‘Every boy dreams to be Samuel Eto’o, but even if they won’t be that, they enjoy the dreaming and the process of personal improvement, and the friendship that is built on the way to this dream.’

Elmakawi ‘Mac’ in Coventry, UK

Since Mac, 21, and his family were forced to leave their home in Sudan before seeking asylum in the UK, football has always been his escape.

When he was just nine months old, Mac along with his parents and three brothers, had to flee their life in the Nuba mountains after facing persecution for their ethnicity and religion. They have not been back in two decades.

The family settled in Beirut, Lebanon, for over 18 years where Mac ‘fell in love’ with the game after his dad put him in a team. In 2017, the family moved to Coventry where Mac continues to play football with Elim FC and hosts matches through the Positive Youth Foundation – an organisation supporting young asylum seekers in the UK.

He told Metro.co.uk: ‘When I arrived in the UK [the organisation] were really supportive. I made a lot of friends and met people from countries I’ve never met before.

‘Through football I was able to provide people with the opportunity to meet others and help them to integrate into the community.’

Mac, who will start his first year studying law at the University of Coventry this September, believes football is one of the few things that ‘welcomes people from different backgrounds and walks of life’.

‘Football was always the thing that made me happy and would always take my mind off things,’ he added. ‘It gives me the opportunity to clear my mind.’

He added: ‘Football unites communities as it doesn’t discriminate against anyone.’

Maram in Zaatari, Jordan

Maram, originally from Syria, said playing football with an all-girl team gives her confidence, a routine and most importantly, hope for her future.

‘Some people in the camp believe that football is only for boys, and girls shouldn’t do it,’ she said. ‘But when I play football it raises my spirits and it reinforces my self-confidence.

‘Because I am a girl, I can be the person that changes how the community perceives girls’ football and breaks the wall of shame.’

She added: ‘My wish is to strengthen my skills in football, so I can achieve my dream and become a famous footballer, and to travel with my family and play football outside the camp.’

Mahmoud in Zaatari, Jordan

Mahmoud, who was forced to leave Syria due to years of conflict, said football is vital for his mental health.

He said: ‘I started to love sports when I was a child in Daraa in Syria, and now a day of sports helps me to heal from the depression and sadness in the camp. I enjoy playing football and it gives me hope. My ambition is to play with a European football team. 

‘Sport is my life. I can’t live without it. I can’t even spend one day without doing sports or playing football… This experience allows me to see the community outside of the refugee camp.’

Khadija Ahmadi in Vienna, Austria

Khadija, from Afghanistan, said that she and her female team mates have been told that women shouldn’t play football.

‘At the first match we played with the men, some of the guys were still saying that we should stay at home,’ she said. ‘Football doesn’t belong to men alone. It’s not a man thing. We can play it too if we want… Women can also play football well – it is just that men have been playing it for longer.’ 

Khadija said football has allowed her to make new friends and given her the opportunity to ‘find herself’ again in Vienna.

‘I didn’t know the language, I didn’t know anyone,’ she said. ‘It’s as if you are being born as a baby again. I think you can only understand it if you’ve experienced it yourself.’

Refugee Week

So far, we have shared the story of Syrian surgeon Mohamad who worked in war zones before helping on the NHS coronavirus frontline, and the refugees leading the way in helping their UK communities through the pandemic.

Ghaida told her story of how she was forced to flee Saudi Arabia or face death for being a bisexual woman.

Director Waad Al-Kateab recalled surviving siege in Syria to film the Bafta-winning documentary For Sama.

Parents, Hadiya and Shadi, told how they have been stuck in a refugee camp for years after leaving home to get life-saving cancer treatment.

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