Our vision is to establish a soccer youth academy to equip and enhance mentally and physically the youth in the Western Sahara Refugee Camps.
Our vision partners organized soccer with the schools already established in the refugee camps, thus creating the youth academy. We hope to harness their love for soccer as a means of motivating them to perform better in their studies.
Creating a desire to study and play soccer will bring about a bright and promising future for the young boys who go through the program and motivate them to seek out opportunities to contribute to society and better aid their people.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The Future Is Bright
In west Algeria there is a Refugee Camp with many youth who have a dream in their hearts that longs for organized football. As days pass by they will slowly begin to lose that dream that hope. We are in a position to begin a youth academy in Smara (the largest of 6 refugee camps in Algeria). To achieve this we begin small, but with the big picture in mind. There will be thirty 3rd grade students that will participate in our academy, stressing the importance of education. We will gather the boys 2-3 times a week and organized football sessions will take place. These sessions will promote a healthier lifestyle for the boys who participate, equipping them with tools to better them mentally and physically. We do believe that our project will represent a turning point in their lives for a bright and promising future.
Youth playing football in the Western Sahara Refugee Camps.
A Vision Born of Experience..(June 2010)
”During our short trip to the Sahara Desert, we were given the opportunity to witness the beautiful game (soccer) played in one of the most barren, dirty and empty places in the world. Whether the ball struck the shoeless feet of the youth or the rusty metal crossbar on a sand box field, this game was being played. When the temperature reached 120 and it was considered too hot to play, the eyes of the people fixed to the small fifteen-inch television screen powered by spare batteries with hopes to catch their host country of Algeria in a match. Soccer is much more than a game to the Western Sahara Refugees; it is a way to feel free. It is a way for the barefoot fourteen-year-old boy to weave his way in and out of his peers like a young Lionel Messi. It is a way for the 22 year old to orchestrate a beautiful assist to his brother like the great Kaká. It gives the grandfather, who has lived in the desert for 35 years, a second of peace to witness one of the greatest free-kicks taken by Cristiano Ronaldo. From our short visit, we were able to observe truly, how influential the beautiful game is to the Saharawi.
“Soccer expresses itself in many different ways. Our vision longs for the Beautiful Game to present itself in Peace, Justice and Freedom for the people of Western Sahara.”
