FOOTBALL IS NOT JUST FUN

All over the world, organisations use football to help young people with problems. In some countries, football programmes keep bored kids off the streets and away from crime. In other countries, the programmes work with kids who have no homes or no parents.

Why football? Well, millions of people play football and billions of people watch it. You don’t need expensive equipment. You can play it in the street without a football pitch, proper goals, expensive football boots or a real ball. And football, like many other sports, teaches you skills which are useful in all areas of life; teamwork, fair play and respect for others.

Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya is a very poor area where 200,000 people live. Most of the people that live here survive on very little money and many of them eat only once a day. There’s rubbish everywhere and little healthcare. In 2000, a football programme started for boys and girls. It aims to help them believe in themselves and gives students health and life skills education.