Children learn their rights through fun and games

Andrew Simon with the team

American college student Andrew Simon, 19, has spent the last six weeks in Yemen working with nongovernmental organizations and attending many workshops on children’s rights.  “But all these workshops were just talk about children and there were no children there,” he said. He wanted to create an event where children would be present.  To that end, he aorganized the Democracy School’s first annual Children’s Soccer Tournament, a competition for the Children’s Parliament Cup 2007, on Saturday, July 21. 

This games are being held with the collaboration of Duke University in North Carolina, U.S., and in cooperation with the May 22 Club where the tournament was held.  “I mean we can put the pamphlet right in the child hands and have them read it instead of just talking with adults about it. That is why I planned this,” Simon said.  “When I came here I did not have that kind of idea of child issues and women issues in Yemen. Through Democracy School, I saw a lot of films write about a lot of things, and went through different meetings and then I decided to plan something on my own.”  Simon chose soccer, thinking that all the kids here in Yemen love to play soccer.

“It is a good way of getting them to come, and then during a break they would be able to learn about their rights. Soccer attracts them to come initially and then they will be able to read more so it draws them in.” Children form all the six teams were excited about playing.  “We like to participate in competitions and tournaments like this, but there is nobody to launch such events,” said Anwar al-Sha’fali, 15. “The Yemen Football Union has to support and help clubs and offer competitions for youths.  Officials there should train us as football buds to have strong teams.

This should be in all governorates of the republic.”  Coach Ammar al-Ba’dani said that he and other coaches usually face problems training children. This is because they lack the support from Ministry of Youth and Sport, the Yemen Football Union, family, clubs and schools. “The interest should start from parents. They need to be aware of the sport their children are playing and should support them,” he said.   “It is the first time to have such tournament since many years,” said Coach Hamid Jawbah.  The one-day tournament was held as the first stage of competition in the Capital Secretariat. One hundred children from Sana’a participated in this tournament.

There were six teams in total, with 16 kids on each team, including team member from the Children’s Parliament.  The tournament is one of many other projects created by a team of five students who came here from Duke University. The team is composed of Simon, who launched the tournament as his own personal project, Isabelle Figaro, Taimoor Aziz, Tyler Huffman, and Ella Lipin.   The Duke student volunteers are in Sana’a, Yemen working alongside non-profit organizations. They are tackling multiple dimensions of social injustice and policy issues, while they develop Arabic language skills. The organizations they participate in deal with issues such as Somali refugees in Yemen, human rights, democracy, women, media, and the legal rights of children. Simon and Figaro have joined the Democracy School, while the rest of the team joined other NGOs. 

A children’s rights workshop that actually includes children—and soccer balls.

Simon hopes to have the soccer tournament in all governorates of Yemen by next year. This event is part of a broader project to educate children about their rights and the International Convention on Children's Rights, under the slogan "Know Your Rights and Protect Them.” Each team was provided with T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan in both English and Arabic.  The project has both sport and educational aims. Throughout the tournament, there were also a number of educational activities and games related to children's rights going on in the area. 

The Democracy School invited the team from Duke University for two months, from June 8 to August 7. The goal of the visit is to exchange experiences and identify activities of Yemeni civil society, said Jamal al-Shami, Chairman of the Democracy School. "Students who joined the Democracy School are working voluntarily on the tasks assigned by the Democracy School administration.” It is a cultural exchange program organized by the Duke University and the Yemen College of Middle Eastern Studies.  “This tournament is the first event, and hopefully it is going to be annual,” Simon said. 

Coach Jamil al-Sa'wani said that he has been a coach for 16 years, and never seen such a good and effective competition, or even a tournament. "We thank the democracy school and blame the YFU for not holding such tournament. It never thinks or cares about the new generation," he said.   Yemen is too late in taking an interest in sport, he said. "Building should start with a strong foundation, and these children are the Yemeni sport foundation," said al-Sa'wani.  Simon believes that with the guidance and help of the Democracy School, this project can be a success and ultimately a vehicle to change the current human rights violations in Sana'a, particularly child abuse.

After the first round of games, Abdullah al-Thawr and Bassam al-Absi, organizers from the Democracy School, Simon, and all participants were brought back to the initial gym. Here, members of Children’s Parliament and other volunteers from the Democracy School led a workshop and films discussing children’s rights.  After the showing of the two films produced by the Democracy School, children were asked what they saw and what they thought about the films. Workshops followed the films, in which Children’s Parliament members led the children in discussions and readings of the pamphlet and brochure produced by the Democracy School.

In addition to the discussions during the workshops, the Children’s Parliament members engaged the other children in games. These games included, but were not limited to, writing and drawing contests.  The final match was close. The May 22 team won the gold medal and cup, al-Helal won the silver medals and cup, and Children's Parliament won the bronze medals.  But all of the children won greater understanding of their rights.

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