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 the Yemeni Observer this upcoming Saturday.