childrens rights soccer tournament by

Children's Rights Soccer Tournament (By Andrew)

Today, the 21st of July was the first annual Children's Soccer

Tournament for the Children Parliament Cup. The event was held at a

local sporting club offering two, dirt soccer fields within walking

distance. There were 6 teams in total with 16 kids on each team, along

with a small coaching staff. Each team was provided with T-shirts

reading, "Know Your Rights and Protect Them," in both English and

Arabic. The Duke University emblem sits in the upper left corner of

the shirt along with "DukeEngage" as the subscript. The Democracy

School's symbol rests in the upper right corner of the shirt. After

the children gathered in the gym around 8:40a.m. I was asked to

provide a short speech, translated by Professor Lo. In front of the

approximately 100 children, all wearing the DukeEngage t-shirts, I

described why I came up with this idea and the purpose of the event.

Without having prepared a speech beforehand, I said the following:

"Since my stay in Yemen I have attended several workshops discussing

children's rights. However, children were not present at these events.

The organizers just addressed the Yemeni Youth in presentations

(powerpoints, question and answer sessions, etc). This event is meant

for you, the children of Yemen. The information will be placed in your

hands directly. I hope you have fun today and I hope you learn

something about your rights. I also want you to share with your

friends what you have learned today. Thank you."

Following a short photo session with the children I walked over to the

fields with Abdullah, a close friend at Democracy School, and the

other Yemeni Youth. On the way over to the fields Abdullah told me an

interesting story relative to the tournament's purpose, alerting

children of their rights. He said that on his way to the gym earlier

that morning a boy stopped him and asked about the brochures he was

carrying. Abdullah explained how the pamphlets were meant to inform

children of their rights and what to do if they face any abuse. He

then went on to say how there was a football tournament today where

the pamphlets would be administered. The child then asked if he could

participate, but unfortunately Abdullah explained how all the spots

were already full. After hearing the disappointing news the boy then

said, "Isn't it my right to play soccer?" Similar to this child, the

Yemeni youth at the tournament and in the workshops quickly gained a

grasp on what their rights are in terms of not accepting child abuse,

and apparently having the right to play soccer.

After the first round of games all participants were brought back to

the initial gym. Here, members of Children's Parliament and other

volunteers from the Democracy School led workshops and films

discussing children's rights. I sat in on both of the films shown,

made by the Democracy School, and witnessed the positive reactions of

the children. One film presented the children with 10 cases of child

abuse while the other cartoon discussed the issue of parental abuse

and neglect. After the showing of each film the administrator asked

the children what they saw and what they thought about the films. The

facilitator then recapped the main message of the viewing. Following

the two films the children then rotated with other youth who had been

participating in workshops. In the workshops, children parliament

members (including the former President) led the children in

discussions and readings of the pamphlet and brochure produced by the

Democracy School and myself. In addition to the discussions during the

workshops, the children parliament members engaged the other children

in games. These games included, but were not limited to, writing and

drawing contests. For example, at one station the facilitator asked

the boys to illustrate what the pamphlet discussed. This included

drawing a picture of a person they trusted, because you are suppose to

talk to a trustworthy person if you are being abused.

When the workshops finished I sat down with the children before eating

lunch, all generously provided by the Democracy School, DukeEngage

program, and Duke Islamic Studies Center (DISC). At first, the

children may have been a little shy talking to me, but once they saw

my camera their entire demeanor changed. Within seconds I learned the

names of twenty children and their takes on the program today. From

their perspective the program ranged from very good to excellent and

this opinion was before the food even came out. After the 40-minute

lunch break it was back off to the field to play the final

championship game. The match was close throughout the first half,

until the hosting team eventually pulled away to a hard fought

victory. Dr. Jamal, the director of Democracy School, came for the

medal ceremony, which was reminiscent of the awards ceremony at the

World Cup, at least in the eyes of the children. I was in charge of

presenting the bronze medals, Professor Lo presented the silver medals

and cup, and the winning coach handed out the gold medals and cup.

Once all the awards were handed out everyone began taking photos of

the winning team, which had assembled in the middle of the field. The

captain of the team is seen kissing the trophy in almost every photo

on my camera. Not wanting to interrupt the momentous victory for the

gold team, I gave a short speech:

"I want to first thank everyone for coming. I hope you had fun and I

hope that you learned something. Once you leave here, do not forget to

tell your friends what you have learned and what happened here today.

Even though I will be back in America next year, I look forward to

hearing good things from next year's tournament. Thank you."

Overall, this event was my most memorable experience in Yemen. The

organization and planning process was difficult and I could not have

accomplished anything without the help of the Democracy School,

DukeEngage program, and Duke Islamic Studies Center . Moreover, I want

to point out that the Democracy School continues to organize and run

events like today on a regular basis, all under the constraint of

limited funding. I feel honored to have interned at Democracy School

and I look forward to staying in contact with this wonderful NGO in

the future.

If you want to read more about the event there will be an article in