The Protection Centers in Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement are a focal point for the community, where ARC volunteers talk to those living nearby about what they need and how they’re dong.
“Our team goes to talk to the community every day,” said Hildah, ARC’s Protection Manager in Bidi Bidi. “Many times the youth, they ask us for footballs.”
The ARC team helps kids like Edson. Edson made his football (soccer ball to those from the U.S.) from garbage he found blowing through this neighborhood. Layers and layers of dusty plastic make up his football, but it’s still a treasured part of his daily life. Hildah saw straight away how one simple change could build relationships and lift morale in the new refugee settlement – get these kids some brand new footballs.
It didn’t take long for Hildah to find a way to get the footballs her team needed. She reached out to the ARC team in Minneapolis, who connected with the St. Croix Soccer Club from Stillwater, Minnesota. The soccer club had collected dozens of soccer balls to donate to kids halfway around the world, knowing how life-changing sports can be to a young person. Now, they’re ending up in the hands of young people in Bidi Bidi.
Frances plays football with a team in the settlement, but played for 5 years in South Sudan before he came to Bidi Bidi a few weeks ago. “We play football so our body stays best. Football makes us happier because it keeps us active when we could be sitting and doing nothing here.”
Now his team has access to footballs. They hope to build a league soon to keep spirits high despite their current challenges.
ARC will keep the footballs at our Protection Centers, giving the team a fun way to build relationships with the community, a first step in helping people who are going through trauma.
This is really two stories of doing the doable. The St. Croix Soccer Club saw the difference they could make, saw something that they could change, from thousands of miles away. And our teams in Bidi Bidi turned their generosity into action. When like-minded Changemakers come together to change the world, anything is possible.
Tomorrow is our last day – for now – at Bidi Bidi. Join us as we show how Hildah, one of our all-stars in Uganda, is thinking fast to make a difference every chance she gets.
