AMISOM Uses 4,500 Footballs to Promote Peace

AMISOM

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has given 4,500 durable footballs to the government of Somalia to promote peace and help teach life skills to children and youth groups throughout the country.

The One World Futbol Project donated the footballs to AMISOM through the United Nations Support Office.

Speaking at a ceremony in August 2014, Lydia Wanyoto Mutende, acting head of AMISOM, said sports is one of the key pillars of social transformation and development. Wanyoto said Somalia and the Somali Football Association will distribute the footballs to schools, youth groups and disadvantaged groups across the country to promote peace, education, human rights, equality and social inclusion, and to improve health.

“Football games, at [the] community, national and global level have long been idealized as a way to heal wounds, mend fences, and rise above differences among cultures, religions and nations,” she said. Football “is often viewed as so transcendent of politics and prejudice that even nations embroiled in war lay down their arms and come together to cheer on their teams. And this can be true in Somalia.”

Sandra Cress, director of One World Futbol Project in Africa, said the organization distributes the nearly indestructible footballs to disadvantaged communities, where football can be used to teach life skills and foster social change. The group’s footballs never need pumps and never go flat, even if punctured again and again. They allow for play almost anywhere, from beaches to rough landscapes.