Team Nicaragua flies the flag in Street Child World Cup campaign!
Excitement may be mounting for the World Cup in South Africa in June, but for Casa Alianza the World Cup will come early! We are delighted to announce that a team from Casa Alianza Nicaragua will be taking part in the inaugural Street Child World Cup in Durban, South Africa, from 14-23 March 2010.
The tournament will bring together street children from eight countries and four continents, to celebrate their potential and campaign for their rights to be recognised and upheld, via the universal language of football.
The tournament itself will be a round-robin 7-a-side competition; teams will be made up of both boys and girls, aged between 14 and 16. In addition to the football the children will also be involved in a number of arts projects aimed at self-expression, giving them the chance to think and act creatively and actually have fun in the way children should – a rare experience on the streets!
A conference has also been organized to run from 20-22 March. Led by street children, this event will provide a platform for people across a range of professions and disciplines to discuss street children’s experiences, rights, aspirations and ideas. The objective is to produce clear, practical recommendations on how to realise the rights of the world’s street children.
At the Street Child Word Cup the children will take centre stage, talking about the issues that matter most to them and reminding the world’s governments of their right to a full, healthy and dignified life, as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The trip has been made possible by the generous support of Celtic Football Club, the Herriot Watt Celtic Supporters Club, the Amos Trust and BMS World Mission. Football is just one of the activities that has been funded under the cultural programme sponsored by the Evan Cornish Foundation via Casa Alianza UK. And success has been quick in coming: the girls’ team recently won its first trophy in their local league!
Casa Alianza Nicaragua has certainly been gripped by World Cup fever. The kids have been training hard every day since last February – under the watchful eye of Julio Cesar Membreno, who has been seconded from the Nicaraguan Ministry of Sports. The final squad has now been chosen and the last preparations are being made in earnest. We’ll let you know how the team progresses. And who knows? With a bit of luck, Casa Alianza Nicaragua may soon be able to add “World Cup Winners” to their already amazing list of achievements!
Casa Alianza is delighted to have a team in this groundbreaking event, which promises to be a moving and stimulating occasion for everyone. But don’t just take our word for it: here’s what some very influential people have to say about it:
“The Street Child World Cup demonstrates the tremendous potential of every single child, and especially street children, who are so often treated as less than human…I urge all governments to guarantee the rights of this most marginalized group of their citizens to lives in which their promise is fulfilled.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“I know from personal experience just what power football can have to inspire and change young people’s lives, whatever their background or nationality. This is what the Street Child World Cup is all about and I give it my full support.”
David Beckham
“No child should have to live on the streets and I fully endorse this campaign giving street children a voice to claim their rights.”
Sir Alex Ferguson
“The Street Child World Cup is a brilliant project which will help hundreds of thousands of teenagers who live on the streets by getting the world to listen to them and give them a fair chance.”
Theo Walcott
"Go Team Nicaragua!"
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