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Soccer Without Borders Uganda

The Ndejje Youth Center

 

Paintings from the storytelling program run through the centerThe Ndejje Youth Center was built in Ndejje, Uganda in 2008-09 by SWB and its partners: the Soccer Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the San Jose Rotary Club, and the Skidmore College soccer programs. The center currently serves as a home to all soccer and life-skills programs, as well as providing a public space for community meetings. 

 

Project Partners: Helping People of All Ethnicities (HOPE)

Background on Urban Refugees in Kampala: Uganda is home to on of the largest populations of refugees and internally displaced peoples in Africa. Because of the relatively hospitable policies toward victims of forced migration, refugees from all over the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa region flock to Uganda to seek security and peace within its borders.

Despite the fact that Uganda gives refugees a good deal of freedom and protection as compared to other states around the world, refugees here are by no means living without great challenges. Most refugees are brought to one of the many refugee settlements in the area, where they are given a small piece of land, basic non-food items and basic food rations from the UN/World Food Programme. But there are also an estimated 10,000 refugees who opt out of the rural life of the settlement to remain in the capital. Though they are free to do so, choosing a life in the city means foregoing all support, financial or otherwise, from the United Nations. 

The life of refugees in Kampala is very difficult, at best. While they remain in Kampala in search of better social services including education, health care, communication, development, and opportunities for their futures, they face great obstacles. Language barriers, xenophobia, lack of local recognition of scholastic and professional diplomas, lack of financial resources and absence of institutional support all inhibit refugees from starting their lives anew while in exile—indefinitely, sometimes permanently—from their home country. But among all these barriers, refugees in the urban settings say that the biggest barrier they face in Uganda is a lack of access, for adults and children alike, to educational opportunities.

The most basic education is crucial to local integration in Ugandan society and to preventing the stagnation of child development during their indefinite period of exile. In addition, the continuing education of youth and adults beyond the primary school level is necessary for financial survival, whether they return to their country of origin or they remain in Uganda. 

Without educational opportunities, refugees also suffer from a lack of opportunities. For this reason, Soccer Without Borders developed two projects with the refugee communities in the Kampala area to build opportunities for play and learning. 

Ndejje Youth and Community Center: Building Opportunities for Recreation, Vocation and Community….

The Youth Center building near completion, 2009In Ndejje, youth have few formal opportunities for recreation, and little access to education beyond the primary level. To address these issues, the Ndejje Youth Center’s recreation component will use soccer as a tool for community engagement and as a positive outlet for the youth’s time and energy. With time, we also plan to develop a vocational component to train the older youth in marketable skills to help them support themselves and their families. The Ndejje Youth Center’s combination of recreational activities and vocational training will allow youth to play in a positive team environment free of their day-to-day stresses while simultaneously pursuing necessary training for their future lives. 

Target Population: The Ndejje Youth Center will target the youth of Ndejje, both refugee and national, ages 12-24. The refugee population is largely comprised of Congolese, Rwandese and Sudanese families. Many of these youth are out of school and jobless and are thus in need of a positive outlet for their time and energies as well as structured training for their future survival.

Goals for Ndejje Youth Center

Development of Soccer in the community

  • Opportunities for organized soccer will be made available to unengaged youth 
  • Quality of current soccer opportunities in Ndejje will improve

Development through Soccer in the community

  • Bringing together youth of different ethnicities will foster respect, dialogue and friendship among refugee and Ugandan national youth living in the same community
  • Monthly “Life-Skills” Workshops will harness the power of soccer to promote healthy lifestyles through topics on nutrition, hygiene, conflict resolution and HIV/AIDS and Malaria awareness and prevention, 
  • Participation in soccer program will cultivate self-esteem, leadership and empowerment of community youth 

Long Term Goals

Vocational Training

  • Vocational program will train youth in manageable, marketable and low-tech trades to generate income for themselves in the future
  • In the absence of access to higher education, the vocational classes will provide youth with positive activities in which to spend their time working toward a specific and realistic goal

Project Sustainability

  • Goods generated in vocational program will be sold to fund the next cycle of vocational training to pay for teacher’s stipend and program materials such as fabric and wood
  • Soccer Program will encourage younger youth to progress to the higher levels of play through the various teams, thus maintaining a relationship with the HOPE Youth Center and becoming leaders as they grow older