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Refugees, host communities urged on unity through sports
Sula Ssebunza leads Agojo Refugee Settlement gilrs in a training session in Adjumani. PHOTO/SWAIB RAUL KANYIKE
What you need to know:
A girls' football clinic was organized to, among others, select the team to represent the settlement in this year's JICA-sponsored TICAD Cup in Jinja, which draws girl's football teams from other refugee settlements across the country and other select schools.
Sula Ssebunza is a former Uganda Kobs, Simba SC and Soltilo Bright Stars player. He is also a young brother to Ibrahim Sekagya, the revered former captain of Uganda Cranes who by all standards is the country's biggest ever footballing export overseas with a playing career spanning two decades in Argentina, Austria and the US.
With that background, people like Ssebunza know how far a sport like football can take an individual, and how one's background shouldn't be a major issue in team sports. After all, in 1995, Nelson Mandela famously rallied the nation of South Africa, still reeling from the scars of apartheid, to their first ever rugby World Cup triumph as a united entity; a feat still talked about globally.
The power of sport in bringing people of all backgrounds to live and work in harmony, shooting into the same goal and fostering everlasting relations cannot be underestimated.
That was the message during the commemoration of the World Refugees Day activities spearheaded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), UNHCR and Uganda Premier League club, Soltilo Bright Stars in Agojo Refugee Settlement in Adjumani District on Saturday.
The settlement was established in 2016 to accommodate people fleeing the war in South Sudan and football is being fronted as one of the ways through which the refugees and the host communities around the settlement can live in harmony. The settlement is home to some 3000 refugees.
A girls' football clinic was organized to, among others, select the team to represent the settlement in this year's JICA-sponsored TICAD Cup in Jinja, which draws girl's football teams from other refugee settlements across the country and other select schools. And to many of these young girls, it will be their first trip out of Adjumani. Also, mingling with people from outside their circles, hence the intended goal: unity. Small steps, small wins into the right direction.
Under the theme ‘Solidarity with Refugees’, Inoue Yoichi, the JICA Country Representative’s message was simple: keep your doors open for refugees, encourage and celebrate their strengths and achievements, reflecting on the challenges they face and finding solutions to their plight, but above all, play on the same team and score in one goal, hence the sports activities.
Such sporting activities offer opportunities to refugees to thrive in communities that have welcomed them. For example, this year, Linda Bayoa and Peace Malia, refugee girls from the nearby Pagirinya refugee settlement earned bursaries at Moyo Star High School after showcasing their talents during the recently concluded National Post Primary Ball Games.
"Talent can take you everywhere. Today I saw some talented girls and if we keep following and nurturing them we can get the best out of them. Football provides equal opportunities to all people from all backgrounds; the examples are countless," remarked Ssebunza, who was one of the coaches and selectors.
As Real Madrid’s Eduardo Camavinga still celebrates his first ever Uefa Champions League gold medal, countless refugees harbor the same dream, and more. After all, he was born in a refugee camp in Angola following his parents' displacement from the DR Congo and is now at the top of the footballing world.
