Egyptian Street Children Practice Their Way to Rio de Janeiro
BY NOHA SAHMOUD AND NOUR HANNA
The Street Children Football team, which is expected to participate in a tournament in Rio de Janero for the first time in Egyptian history, has been practicing on campus for the past three months under the supervision of AUC graduates.
“Instead of [the children] sitting in the street, they can be successful and do what they love,” said Abdelaziz El Hakim, chief operations officer (COO) and partner at Train For Aim (TFA).
The children are unsuprisingly excited to be participating in the Street Children World Cup in two weeks.
“I hope I can show off my football skills to the audience on an international level,” said Mohammed El Masry, one of the children on the team.
Ahmed Abouzied, one of El Masry’s teammates, said that he aspires to play in the Egyptian Al-Ahly club’s soccer team when he grows up.
Malak El Ayouty, the social media head for the team, says it all started when Karim Hosni and Mohammed Khedr, two AUC graduates and [football] coaches, looked for children to join this tournament.
“When these children first came to AUC, they couldn’t speak up, [but] now if you talk to them, they will tell you they want to accomplish their dreams and leave their mark,” she added.
El Ayouty explained that three NGOs – Face, Hope Village, and Ana El Masry – recruited the children. There was a set of criteria for the participants, including having lived on the street for at least two years and in a shelter for one year.
Khedr said that the NGOs initially recruited 70 children but the organizers cut many of them leaving the team now with 14 players.
He added that they will have to cut off another five, as only the nine most qualified players will go to the tournament in Rio de Janeiro.
Although Khedr has been coaching the team for over a year and a half, they only began holding their trainings on campus three months ago, as they were waiting for approval from Ashraf El Fiqi, the university’s former vice president for student affairs.
Teams of six AUC graduates are now responsible for the children’s wellbeing, fitness, and professionalism.
El Ayouty said that these graduates also provide the children with emotional support, which has a positive effect on their performance.
Hosni and Khedr said that although it is difficult at times to coach the children, they are looking forward to the tournament and have high hopes for the team’s performance.
TFA and Enactus AUC held a soccer tournament at AUC on March 1 to raise funds to support the soccer team, who will participate in the Street Child World Cup later this month.
El Ayouty said the Egyptian team has received support from many people, including famous soccer player Mohamed Aou Treka, who attended one of the training sessions and played soccer with the children.
