Sport Uganda Project #19155

Empower East African Refugee Youth in Uganda

by Soccer Without Borders

Project Report | Jul 28, 2016
Soccer as a Refuge: Building Community in Kampala

By Mary McVeigh | Co-Founder & Executive Director

Olivier and SWB Uganda program participants

This year for World Refugee Day we interviewed Olivier, Director of Soccer Without Borders Uganda. Like many of the young soccer players participating in SWB Uganda’s programs, Olivier is also a refugee. While Uganda is home to more than 512,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers, it is estimated that there are 200,000 refugees living in Kampala alone.

Olivier has been with the program from the start, and is a refugee from the South Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that borders Rwanda. After serving as a coach and leader, Olivier became Director of SWB Uganda. Last month, Olivier learned that after nearly ten years in Uganda, he and his family will be resettled to Sweden this summer through the United Nations resettlement program. Here’s what Olivier had to say about his experience as both a refugee and Director of SWB Uganda.

What brought you to Kampala?

I came in Uganda in December 2006, and I am a Mushi by tribe. They call people from my tribe Rwandese, but this is just because we are on the border to Rwanda. We had a war between my tribe and others called Banyanga and Batembo. These two tribes were killing my tribe because of land and calling us Rwandese, claiming that we were letting the Rwandese Army enter the DRC to steal land and gold. The DRC Army was also involved in killing my tribe, believing that my people the Mushi were the ones betraying the country. My father couldn’t do anything in the area, we started to live a life of no hope or no future. So this forced us to leave Congo.

My journey from Congo to Uganda was very complicated, and this is because we didn't know where we were going. We came to Uganda without even knowing that we were going to Uganda. We were not the only family in that situation, running, there were many. We did not have money or travel document to pass to the border. We used the Bunagana border. On Tuesdays there was a market and everyone would pass that border as if to buy goods in the market, so that was how we crossed.

What challenges have you faced as a refugee in Kampala?

Staying in Kampala is not that easy, especially if you are coming for the first time. First, you face the language barrier problem, but also you are going to be discriminated in each and everything you will be doing. One memory that comes to mind is when my family first came, they didn’t want us to rent a house because we were so many. We were told that we were going to fill their toilet because of having so many children. It makes me cry when I remember it, to know that refugees are still facing the same challenge. Now when we do home visits with Soccer Without Borders to participant houses, I hear similar stories from parents.

How and why did you first start Soccer Without Borders Uganda?

I am one of the founders of SWB Uganda from 2007 after I completed my English course at the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRC). We started SWB as a football team which brought refugees together to have fun. That was the initiative that was led by Raphael (former Director), Ben (SWB Founder) and I. I got involved because I thought it was the right thing for me to serve my fellow refugees. I understand better what kind of situation have they gone through to reach here, and what are they going through now. My goal for myself was to serve my fellow refugees. My first day of the initiative was very interesting because I didn’t believe that refugees could do anything in a foreign country. But I was so happy to see the group come together and have fun.

How is Soccer Without Borders Uganda celebrating World Refugee Day?

We use this day as a day to raise awareness in the Ugandan community about the right of refugees, and to show them that refugees are also human beings, that we deserve the rights of freedom, speech and voice in the community.

To learn more about World Refugee Day and the challenges facing refugees globally, take a look through the newly released "Global Trends" report for 2015 from the UNHCR.

Playing for Change

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Apr 29, 2016
Professional Development at SWB Uganda

By Jeremiah Lukeka | Head Instructor

SWB Staff at the British Council Training

For the first part of 2016, there has been much focus on the staff’s professional development. Head Instructor Jeremiah Lukeka breaks down two of the coaches’ trainings in which our staff participated:

The British Council Community Coach Training:

This training was focused on developing personal skills in communication, presentation, team building and leadership. It provided participants with the opportunity to learn about fitness and nutrition, player development, coaching practices, and action planning. It also helped to contribute to building a framework for football coaching.

The Premier League coaches aimed to provide coaches with excellent role models, not only on the pitch but during the workshop sessions which they led. The learning style was interactive, involving coaches throughout the entire training.

The training took place over five days for 10 hours per day. The hours were subdivided into morning sessions in class and afternoon sessions at the pitch.

The training was led by three great local coaches, including one from the Uganda Cranes National Team. Five of our coaches, including Olivier Matanda, Junior Kasereka, Jeremiah Lukeka, Jules Mayele, and Nsamba Mustapha had the privilege to attend this training and meet different influential people like the High Commissioner of the United Kingdom in Uganda, The Assistant Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) President and other great coaches from Super League Teams.

The Coaches Across Continent Coach Training:

This training was focused on how to use football for social impact, adapting normal football drills with a social impact message, and creating our own games.

This training also took place over five days for 3 hours per day. The training was led by 4 Coaches Across Continents coaches from the U.S. and one from Kenya. This training involved 10 of our coaches.

In both trainings, our coaches were thrilled to learn about:

Coaching Skills and Behavior
Coaching Process
Coaching Styles and Safety
Football Knowledge and Practical Sessions.
Effective Coaching
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Community Development through Football
The Game Rules
Social Impact Games
Adapting Normal Football drills with Social Impact Messages
Creating own games.

Through these trainings, we have improved our coaching styles a lot, and we have shared the experiences with other staff. We are now excited to be implementing these new skills in our normal programs.

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Jan 29, 2016
The 5th Annual Kampala Youth Festival

By Margarita Chukhina | Team Leader

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