This past summer, a benefit footie match for the One Dollar Campaign, an organization that constructs houses for orphans displaced by the 1994 Rwandan genocide, was held at the Amaharo stadium in Rwanda. It pitted the Amavubi Stars against a all-star team, headlined by Inter striker Samuel Eto'o.
After the match, Dominic Scicluna, an native Rwandan on the all-star team, professed his belief that "the players with the best technique are the ones that know that football is a vehicle for peace." After all, the first step on the path to peace involves bringing former adversaries together. There can be no real reconciliation absent social reintegration into a broader community, and football has proven itself invaluable in laying the foundation, on which a more inclusive community can develop. Indeed, football's unparalleled ability to do just that was put on display at the event, as Tutsis and Hutus of all ages gathered together to cheer on the home side.
In another example, Rwanda's National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) organized a series of football matches across the country over a three-month period in 2009. Tasked with building this "first trust" between genocide perpetrators and the villagers they previously terrorized, NURC turned to football, as it was the one sport that could draw these groups together and serve as a means of relation between the two. Through the footie matches, the participants grew more at ease with each other, paving the way for meaningful dialogue in the conversation events that took place after the matches.
No comments:
Post a Comment