Campaign’s theme is to highlight plight of street children, inspire youth. PHOTO: FILE
‘No child should live on the streets. Play for your right, if we can do it, so can you.’ These are some of the underlying themes of the national campaign of the country’s street children football team that is due to arrive in the provincial capital today (Friday).
Their tour of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) kicked off on Thursday in Abbottabad, and the team will remain in the province till May 18.
After giving an impressive performance in Brazil’s Street Children World Cup recently, this group of star footballers and ‘at risk’ children made the nation proud at a time when many feel there is little to be proud of. The entire country celebrated this small victory for Pakistan in the international community.
“We welcome the Pakistani Street Children Football Team to the land of hospitality – Peshawar,” reads the official poster for the campaign.
Their arrival was announced by Zafarullah Khan in a press release. He is coordinating the team’s first visit to the province, which is organised by a number of government departments and non-government-organisations (NGO).
Khan said the campaign and tour has a dual purpose. Apart from playing the sport, the campaign’s purpose is also to inspire young people and highlight the plight of street children. These players were just street children once. Now they are national heroes who are received as guests of the state.
“The underlying message is that nothing is impossible if one believes in oneself. The theme of the three-day event is ‘I am Somebody’ and the campaigns slogan is ‘No child should live on the streets,’” he said.
Hero’s welcome
Zafarullah Khan said team members will be given ‘a hero’s welcome’. The players will be hosted at the Chief Minister House and will spend their time in the city doing what they do best, play football. A number of matches are scheduled against local school teams.
The team’s bus will make a pit stop in Swabi for a private reception before arriving in Peshawar. In the city, the team is scheduled to make appearances at the K-P Chamber of Commerce as well as the Chief Minister House. The day’s activities will conclude with a mushaira and dinner at the Islamia College.
The itinerary for May 17 includes a visit to the Special Education Centre in Hayatabad as well as a football match with a government school team at Qayyum Stadium. This event will be open to the general public and anyone is free to witness the team’s magic first hand. At the end of the day, the street footballers will rub shoulders with parliamentarians over dinner.
On the last day of the tour, players will visit the Aaghosh Centre for street children and will be given a final farewell at a news conference hosted by the Peshawar Press Club.
The tour has been organised by Brains Institute, Azad Foundation, Child Protection Project, Child Protection & Welfare Commission, Department of Elementary & Secondary Education, Social Welfare Department. The Tourism Corporation Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP) is also a major sponsor of the visit.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2014.
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