Liberia: Football promotes dialogue and solidarity
14-07-2014 Feature
Liberian Red Cross volunteers and ICRC personnel recently helped young people organize a football tournament in a camp for refugees from neighboring Côte d’Ivoire, promoting dialogue and solidarity between refugees and hosts.
Team captain Ruth (left) leads her team in pouring rain.
CC BY-NC-ND / ICRC / P. Yazdi
Fleeing the gunfire
Since 1 September 2011, Ruth's address has been 'Block-P, PTP refugee camp, Grand Gedeh County, Liberia.' "We were among the very first Ivorian families to arrive," she explains. "I've been living in this tiny house of plastic sheeting since I arrived, but now the roof is leaking badly."
Like thousands of others, Ruth and her family fled to Liberia to escape post-election violence in Côte d’Ivoire.
In March 2011, in the early hours of the morning, Ruth heard automatic gunfire approaching her house. She had no time to get organized; she grabbed a few belongings, woke her two children and rushed out to find transport to safety. Crossing the border into Liberia was her first thought.
"Years ago, Liberians fleeing their civil war were lodged in my area," says Ruth. "A Liberian girl became my close friend and for several years we were like sisters until she left. So I knew I'd find a place to stay in Liberia when I fled the fighting."
The refugee camp is known as "PTP Camp", as it is located on the site of the former Prime Timber Production Company. In September 2011, it was upgraded to accommodate 27,000 refugees. Some 12,000 are still living there.
"I'm not planning on going back to Côte d’Ivoire for the time being," says Ruth. "Here my kids go to school, we don’t go to sleep hungry; we get some help and I help a farmer in his paddy field in exchange for some rice. The most important thing is that we live in a safe environment."
The Red Cross Tournament for Solidarity and Dialogue
When we visited Ruth, she was busy getting ready for a football match. Her white number-nine jersey was hanging ready and washed on a rope in the middle of the room, and she was carefully cleaning her football boots. She captains one of the teams that would be playing in the final.
All week, the young people of the camp and Liberia Red Cross volunteers had been busy running a football tournament, with the support of the ICRC. Sixteen men's teams and eight women's teams were participating, and today the final matches were taking place on the main field in the middle of the camp.
"There are lots of young people in the camp, and most of them are unemployed," says refugee representative Patrice Guei. "It's really difficult to keep them busy without help. We have youth volunteers who work with them, and they include football coaches who train the teams. Organizing a tournament is a great way for them to see the results of all their efforts. Above all, it's a precious joyful moment that they can spend together."
In front of her house, Ruth talks briefly to a team-member to make sure that she is ready. "She's my main attacker," explains Ruth, "an excellent striker." Ruth had been joining other girls from her block to play football every day. Then, a year ago, they formed a team and held matches with other girls in the camp. Their regular training and motivation have made them the best women's team in the camp. Now, they also play outside the camp and show Liberian youth that a "girls’ football team" as she proudly describes it, could be as strong as a men's team.
A noisy crowd surrounded the camp football field. Announcements over the loud speakers invited the two teams and the referees to present themselves in front of the VIP stand built by Red Cross volunteers. The stand was packed with camp leaders, representatives of national and international organizations and journalists from Monrovia, giving the event the feel of a national game.
Even a torrential downpour failed to dampen the spirits of the supporters who had flocked to the field to cheer on their favourite teams, and the Red Cross volunteers had a hard time keeping the spectators off the pitch.
Red Cross tracing booth
"The Liberian Red Cross and the ICRC reunite unaccompanied children and other vulnerable people with their families in Côte d’Ivoire," says Kaku Cooper, assistant to the head of the ICRC's Zwedru sub-delegation. "When they move to Liberia, some children lose contact with their parents and have to live with host families. We try to locate the parents, most of whom are still in Côte d’Ivoire. The difficulty comes when small children can't remember the exact names of their relatives or their addresses, or when the parents have moved."
The Liberian Red Cross volunteers have "tracing booths" in the region's refugee camps, where people can restore contact with their families in Côte d’Ivoire and elsewhere.
"We're celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Red Cross all over the world this year," explains Jean Oulai, who is in charge of the Red Cross booth at the camp. "When we talked to the camp's young people about holding an event, they came up with the idea of a football tournament that would bring together all the teams of the camp. The idea of calling it the 'Red Cross Tournament for Solidarity and Dialogue' came from them."
