A girl from Aghanistan is scoring with the encouragement of the children participating in the Welcome Through Football programme, Nawid from Athens Comics Library and Iias Kyriakidis from AEK. © UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
“My favourite sport is football, and my dream is to become a famous footballer” says 11-year-old Miral from Afghanistan, overflowing with happiness during a rare outing.
Miral is joyful as she feels that by participating in the pan-European refugee program “Welcome Through Football” organized in Athens by AEK Football Club, in cooperation with Athens Comics Library, could be a way for her dream to come true.
“Welcome Through Football” is a twelve-week socialisation programme to help refugee children engage with their host community. The initiative of the European Football for Development Foundation, co-funded by the European Union, targeting kids and young adults was created by the UEFA Foundation to help refugees and migrants adapt and engage with their host communities and become more active via football.
This year, some 25 refugee girls and boys, 7 to 11 years-old, are taking part in the programme. A recent session at AEK FC’s training grounds located in Spata, outside Athens, was filled with the smiling faces and energy of the proud participants as the second activity coordinated by Athens Comics Library and AEK FC took place.
With World Refugee Day approaching on 20th June, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, engaged the children in its 2021 Youth With Refugees Art contest titled “Together through Sport.” The global contest focuses on the power of sport to support and bring people together, particularly refugees, fostering inclusion and creating a sense of hope.
The day at the AEK training ground began with the children participating in the Youth with Refugees Art Contest with the help of the comic book artist and illustrator Nikolas Stefadouros, as well as Nawid, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who helped with interpretation and making children feel at ease.
Through his support to Athens Comics Library, Nawid manages to express not only his concern for refugee children but also his desire to contribute to the community.
© UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
A girl from Aghanistan is scoring with the encouragement of the children participating in the Welcome Through Football programme, Nawid from Athens Comics Library and Iias Kyriakidis from AEK. © UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
© UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
© UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
© UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
© UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
During the drawing workshop the children portray what sport and football mean to them, as well as their feelings about participating in AEK FC’s programme. “The most important thing is that I am trying and that I am happy,” Miral inscribes on the rear of her drawing.
As they busily worked, the children used their vivid imagination, combined with their dreams about the future, to prepare colourful drawings as they designed a football for the #dreamball design contest.
The children’s eyes shined brightly when they heard that their drawings could be one of the five in the global contest that will be turned into real footballs by UNHCR, to be stitched in Kenya by refugees and other workers at Alive and Kicking, an ethical manufacturing company. The winning balls will be sold online to support sporting activities for refugees.
Shahzad, an 11-year-old aspiring “astronomer” explained in impeccable Greek how he imagines his dream ball, drawing the moon and the earth in the two ends, and the atmosphere in the middle serving as a shield protecting the earth from falling meteors.
After completing their artistic creations, the girls and boys put on the brightly coloured yellow-black AEK football jerseys they had received and proudly paraded out to the pitch with the team’s coaches to show how much they love football and how excited they were to visit the club’s sprawling grounds. For two hours they ran their hearts out and scored as many goals as they possibly could to demonstrate their sporting prowess.
“The programme could be just an occasion, but the reason is in our roots,” said AEK FC’s coach (in charge of education at the AEK FC Development Network) and former player Ilias Kyriakidis, bursting with pride. AEK FC’s name and history is interwoven since its establishment with Greeks uprooted from Anatolia one hundred years ago.
When their training session comes to an end, all the children, with their cheeks flushed and their eyes sparkling with joy, receive souvenirs from UNHCR. In August we will meet again on the pitch, united with the winning balls that will be created with the designs of children from all over the world, including, they hope, also their designs.
Conflict and persecution have uprooted more than 80 million people around the world. This World Refugee Day, UNHCR calls everyone to stand together to form an inclusive global community around the theme “Together we heal, together we learn, together we shine. Together we can achieve anything.”
The deadline of the 2021 art contest “Together through sport” is 25 June.
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