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By Jill Flockhart
After weeks of traveling around the world in Life Skills class, discovering new cultures, and learning about different places, SWB Uganda celebrated International Day of Peace!
On Thursday, September 19th, we held an SWB Day of Peace at our center. The participants, on 6 different teams, put on a theater show about how they would peacefully solve a problem that we presented them with. Between the great acting performances, dance routines, and amazing vocals, it was a very entertaining show. The next activity was a dramatic trivia game show where a variety of questions were asked regarding world geography. Each team discussed the answer before writing it on a note card and turning it in to be checked. It was a very close contest, but in the end Team Uganda was crowned the trivia champion. The whole day was centered around ways to live peacefully, and each participant was given the opportunity to place their handprint on the Peace Banner as their own way of pledging to live peacefully. The banner turned out beautifully, and we look forward to putting it up as a reminder of our pledge.
On Saturday, September 21st, SWB joined forces with Kampala Kids League to celebrate International Day of Peace. Together we held the first ever Global Peace Games Tournament. Each organization traveled about 70 children to Kampala International School of Uganda to play a Football3 style tournament. The majority of our participants are refugees from Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, and Burundi, and the majority of players from Kampala Kids League are Ugandan natives. The tournament intermixed all participants, including both boys and girls.
In a Football3 format there are no referees, forcing the players to call their own game and act as peacemakers on the field. Before each match, the teams decided on two rules for the match. After the match, the teams came back together and awarded the opposing team points according to how well they followed the two rules. The focus of Football3 is for players and teams to resolve all conflicts in a peaceful way on the field. It was an incredible thing to see, especially on the International Day of Peace!
Overall, the first-ever Global Peace Games Tournament was a tremendous success. Children from both organizations were not only playing great soccer together, but were also resolving conflicts on the field peacefully-- without help from coaches and referees. Despite many of these children coming from different backgrounds, cultures, countries, and speaking different languages, they worked together as a team. The day concluded with smiles and new friends for all.
Happy International Day of Peace from Soccer Without Borders Uganda!