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Right To Play in Pakistan

By Farah Malik

Right To Play is an international humanitarian organization that uses sport and play as a tool for the development of young people affected by war, poverty and other disasters. In Pakistan, the Insan Foundation, a child-rights organization, is the local partner, and we train young Afghan people to run the project. We have projects in Quetta and Peshawar, with 23 coaches and involving some 17,000 children. We work in Afghan refugee schools and also involve Pakistani children to promote peaceful coexistence.

The biggest problem we faced when we started in 2002 was that the Afghanis were not ready to accept a project of sport and play. "We need food, clothing and shelter, and you are offering us sport equipment and want our children to play instead of helping them earn their livelihood!" It was a big challenge to convince them that sport and play will help the development of their child.

Because girls here are excluded from mainstream life, our first preference was to involve female children. In the beginning we involved them only in education because parents were not willing to send their children only to play and be involved in physical activities. Now 70 percent of the children in our program are girls.

Our female coaches went door-to-door to convince the parents, especially the mothers. The biggest attraction was that they were assured that their daughters would become more active in their household work.

First the girls were involved in indoor game activities and then in sports--badminton, then volleyball and cricket. Then in December 2005 they played against boys. This was the biggest achievement!

We only introduced the idea of girls and boys playing together two and a half years into the project when the community had built trust in the coaches.

The program has changed the lives of the coaches as well. One of the male coaches in the program, for example, was very strict and rigid and was not in favor of sport and play, especially for girls. He was teaching in an Afghan school in Peshawar and used to beat the children. He changed totally and has brought so many young people into the program.

He told us that girls in his family would be sold when they reached the age of 14 or 15. He has now stood against this tradition in the family. In his family no girl has ever received education but he is now fighting with his father so that his sister can go to school.

Among the children, there is a young girl whose face was disfigured in a fire in the war in Afghanistan. Her parents kept her hidden. One of the female coaches going door-to-door met her parents and eventually convinced them that if they sent her to school she would be more confident, and she guaranteed that nobody would make fun of her. The girl is very intelligent and is now taking part in the sport activities. Her mother says it has changed her life.

In this program I see great value for the empowerment of women. And a valuable side benefit is that the girls learn about health and nutrition.

We strongly promote the value of peace and harmony among the children and in the training for the coaches. Afghan society is divided into many tribes and sects, and some believe they are superior to others. Such animosities carry on from generation to generation. What we do is to form sports teams from children of different tribes. Whenever one team wins, it is compulsory for the other team to congratulate them and wish them good luck. We've seen great changes in the children. And children change their parents. When the parents see their children playing together, they realize how futile it is to harbor these past hatreds.

This article is from an interview with Farah Malik, project director of the Right To Play program in Pakistan.

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