Play 4 Hope Tour

Background

The last decade in Sierra Leone has been characterised by a brutal civil war which has led to widespread human rights abuses, massive displacement of people, extensive crippling of government capacity and an acute downturn in the overall productive capacity of the economy. Since 1997 to date, the United Nations' Human Development report has declared Sierra Leone "the poorest country in the world".

One brutal feature of the war was the use of amputation as a weapon of fear and intimidation by both factions. Today this leaves hundreds of people trying to survive with only one arm or one leg. Many of the victims of these war crimes were innocent young men who were targeted in order to stop them fighting for the other side.

Now that the war is over a group of these young men and boys have come together to form the Single Leg Amputee Sports Club (SLASC), which has over 30 team members and is recognised by the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) as the unofficial Amputee Football Team of Sierra Leone. All players have one leg, apart from the goalkeeper who only has one arm (to make it fair!). Playing in the team not only gives these youngsters great laughter and joy, but also helps heal the wounds of their trauma and facilitates their reintegration into the community.

"The values of social inclusion and the prevention of further conflict are being taught through the universal language of football."
Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General

AfCiC's Involvement

AfCiC became involved with the SLASC in April 2002 providing support, training, equipment and logistics. We recognise that sport is a powerful tool to promote individual and community rehabilitation following the traumas of conflict. With this in mind, and in order to raise awareness of their plight and the plight of the people of Sierra Leone, AfCiC brought the team to the UK for 14 days in August 2003.

Some of the amputees attend school and many others make a living from petty trading. One of the aims of the project was to raise sufficient funding and awareness so that AfCiC could run skills training for the amputee community as a whole as well as for the SLASC.

Volunteers from AfCiC helped with training the team and securing donations of kit and balls from organisations such as Bath Rugby Club and Sunderland & Derby County.

The Tour

The tour was organised with the active involvement of the English Federation of Disability Sport; they helped to organise the international match, and the Team?s participation in Community Summer Schemes in Liverpool.

"Sport is far more than incidental in turning round neighbourhoods with
multiple disadvantages, whether in Sierra Leone or in North London."
David Lammy UK Labour MP for Tottenham North
(and regular visitor to Sierra Leone)

The Sierra Leoneans kicked-off the tour with a match against Southend United Amputees on Wednesday 20th August. The venue for this match was Boots and Laces in Southend, the training ground of Southend United. This match was quickly followed by a game against Everton Amputees on Friday 22nd. Two days later the tourists provided two teams for a tournament at the JJB Centre in Manchester (their opponents included teams from Everton, Manchester, Hull, Norwich, Southend and Wimbledon). The players then enjoy several rest days, which included meeting the media, day-trips to London and Alton Towers, and attendance at a concert in Westminster (where they enjoyed the music of Sierra Leone's Milton Margai School for the Blind Choir).

The players returned to action on Saturday 30th with a pre- and half-time match against members of the England Amputee team at Luton Town Football Club's match against Hartlepool. The tour reached its exciting climax with a match against the England Amputee National Team on Sunday 31st.

The team returned to Sierra Leone on Monday September 1st. AfCiC continued working with these amazing young men, and expanded our work with disabled young people, promoting their psychological rehabilitation, community integration and skill development.