Hedinn Halldorsson, IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support
It's a beautiful day in Kitgum, Uganda. The sun is shining and the sky is blue. Laughter fills the air, coming from a small football field - the excitement of the players is tangible. A group of enthusiastic spectators is cheering from the shade.
It has not always been like that: time and space to play are the first things that disappear from the life of a child when there is a conflict or a natural disaster. In Kitgum the children have only recently started playing.
Opportunity to play
This is no ordinary football field and these are no ordinary players. They are former child soldiers which had been abducted by rebels in Africa’s longest running conflict and the football match is a welcome opportunity to focus on something else than the past.
Some of the players have come from far away to participate in today’s tournament. Football has provided many of them with social bonds and friendships that many thought impossible. Some had never been hugged until they scored their first goal.
As a consequence of the civil war in Uganda, which ended in 2006 after 19 years of fighting, millions of people have been displaced. Thousands of children were abducted by rebels, trained as child soldiers and both committed and witnessed horrendous atrocities. Now they are trying to move on with their lives.
Restoring trust and social bonds
One of the players scores a goal and his teammates flock around and embrace him. A couple of months ago, some of these boys avoided all physical contact; others had barely experienced it, and if they had, it had meant pain instead of affection.
For the children of Kitgum, healing is a long process. A crucial factor in rebuilding their lives and communities are simple physical activities. The relief the Ugandan children experience during their football match has in recent years been felt by thousands of other children in different psychosocial projects all over the world. An increasing number of organizations recognize the positive effects of sport and are introducing sports programs for children in emergency settings.
Benefits
Whether it is Iranian girls doing Karate or Darfurian children playing football - what they have in common is that physical activities have been crucial in their recovery, their return to normalcy. Sport benefits people of all ages and abilities. A psychosocial delegate in Gaza recalls how a young Palestinian boy insisted on playing ball with his head after having lost his arms and legs in an explosion.
In 2010, sports activities will form a big part of the psychosocial programme in Gaza that a consortium of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has been running for a couple of years.
Sport and psychosocial support
Past experiences, be it in the wake of the Indian Ocean Tsunami or working with earthquake survivors in China, have shown that sport can be an effective tool to rebuild dignity and faith in life, to overcome trauma and build resilience.
The impact on the morale of the people of Kitgum, ravaged by decades of civil war, is one of many examples.
Role of the PS Centre
The role of the IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support, hosted by Danish Red Cross, is to promote and enable the psychosocial wellbeing of survivors, humanitarian staff and volunteers.
The centre has a mandate to serve all 186 National Societies. Its main role is to develop knowledge, to inform and to include psychosocial support into future operations of the Red Cross Red Crescent. 2009 has seen a number of major humanitarian crises and psychosocial support has been an integrated part in the responses of the IFRC.
Getting back on your feet
The match in Kitgum has come to halt, two players are lying on the ground. The teams gather around them, suddenly it is not a matter of winning or losing, but of caring for friends. After a few encouraging slaps on their backs, the players wipe the tears of their cheeks and are back on their feet. The match goes on.
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Partnership between IFRC and ICSSPE
On 2 November, the IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial signed a partnership agreement with The International Council of Sports, Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE )whose aim it is to raise awareness of human values inherent in sports and physical activities.
The aim of the agreement is to improve the capacity and tools of the two organizations. Nana Wiedemann, Director of the PS Centre describes the collaboration with ICSSPE as a great opportunity for the Federation PS Centre to share knowledge and lessons learned. A concrete product of the collaboration is planned to be a handbook on how to deploy sport in order to promote community-based psychosocial wellbeing in disaster and recovery operations.