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 Twenty one young footballers have just completed a gruelling 6 month
football tour of West and East Africa in an effort to promote awareness
of HIV/AIDS amongst young people.
The TackleAfrica Tour, in partnership with leading charities Christian
Aid and Concern, took part in events across Senegal, Mali, Burkina
Faso, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and
Tanzania.
They:
- travelled through 14 countries by overland truck
- worked with
17 local organisations supported by Christian Aid and Concern
to organise 16 HIV/AIDS awareness events in 11 countries
- worked
with 17 local charities events
- covered 15,000 miles
- played 45 football matches (16 wins, 11 draws,
18 defeats)
- had a combined attendance of over 50,000
- made 28 school visits
- distributed more than 350 footballs and
over 300 football shirts
- suffered 16 cases of malaria, 1 broken
nose, about 60 cases of dysentry
The tour’s aims were simple, the team wanted to:
- help young people to learn more about HIV/AIDS, using football
as a means of reaching them
- have young people working with young people – 21
volunteers under the age of 30
- be able to work with local partners
to support local projects, achieved thanks to partnerships
with Christian Aid and Concern
- encourage young people to behave responsibly
in terms of sex and relationships
- challenge stigma about HIV/AIDS
and particularly those suffering from the disease.
- instigate more
open discussion about HIV/AIDS and encourage people to share
their knowledge of the disease with others.
The tour has been more successful
than TackleAfrica founder Ben Maitland could have hoped for when
the volunteers flew out of
Gatwick six
months ago.
“
We have come to the end of TackleAfrica’s first major project
and we are very proud of the tour’s success. We have experienced
some extraordinary moments in our odyssey through West and East Africa.
We have played matches in a variety of locations – from
national stadia to dirt pitches with no proper markings or
posts, and even
a couple with trees in the middle…
'The HIV/AIDS awareness work we have taken part in with local
organisations for young people has been both uplifting and
heartbreaking. We
have felt a real sense of usefulness as we carried out numerous
HIV/AIDS
workshops with young people in each of the countries we passed
through, but we have also witnessed the devastating effects
that the disease
has had on this continent. On one occasion, while we were in
Ethiopia, we visited an HIV orphanage - possibly the most shocking
experience
of the tour. We had not known what to expect - thinking it
was probably children who had lost their parents to the disease,
but discovering
instead that all of the 300 residents - who ranged from 0-16
- were born HIV positive, having little hope of living until
their
late
teens or adulthood.
At times, we were staggered by the levels of interest the events
generated. We were thrilled to meet so many young people throughout
the tour but we were equally delighted that we were welcomed
by so many people of all ages in these community. In total
we had
over
50,000 people attend the events we organised with Christian
Aid and Concern and their respective partners in each country.
It
was a unique
opportunity to reach so many people with key messages in the
fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
We hope this is the first of many TackleAfrica projects.
We have seen for ourselves the success of using sport to
help
to reach
young people with crucial messages about HIV/AIDS. We want
to have carried
out football themed events in every sub-Saharan country ahead
of the 2010 World Cup.”
ADDITIONAL NOTES
- The TackleAfrica tour began on 28 September 2003 and ended on
27 March 2004. The tour carried out events in Senegal, Mali,
Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Uganda and
Tanzania.
- TackleAfrica was founded in May 2002 as a UK-based charity dedicated
to using the popularity of football to raise awareness and understanding
of HIV/AIDS particularly among young people in Africa. TackleAfrica
is registered charity number 1094439. For more information visit
www.tackleafrica.org or email info@tackleafrica.org
- Christian Aid is an international development agency working
with nearly 600 partner organisations in over 50 countries worldwide
to fight poverty and injustice. It works with some of the poorest
communities, helping people irrespective of race, religion, culture
or background to expose the scandal of poverty.
- Christian Aid works on issues from HIV/AIDS, peace building,
emergency response and sustaining livelihoods to trade and human
rights. It also works in the UK, educating, lobbying and campaigning
on the causes of global poverty.
- To find out more about Christian Aid’s work, campaigns,
partners and issues such as HIV/AIDS, fair trade, emergency relief
and sustainable development visit www.christianaid.org.uk
- Christian Aid is a registered charity number 258003. To make
a donation to Christian Aid please call 0845 7000 300, go to
www.christianaid.org.uk or send a cheque payable to Christian Aid
to: Christian Aid, FREEPOST,
London SE1 7YY.
- TackleAfrica is also working with international aid agency Concern
in Tanzania. Concern currently works in 28 of the world's poorest
countries on a range of both long-term development and emergency
projects. To find out more about Concern's work visit www.concern.net
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