#WATWB: Using Football to Beat Tribal Violence

As time passes, the world becomes more and more chaotic. Humanity has been divided along every possible line and almost every nation feels the effects of the split. As our population continues to grow against the ever-dwindling resources, the cracks and crevices originally created by differences in race, gender, religion, tribes, class, etc, are increasingly turning into irreparable chasms and valleys. And at this rate, we might soon find ourselves in a world where everyone is everyone’s enemy.

In Kenya, my country, the divisions along tribal lines have escalated in recent years and they are hurting us all. The politicians, the chief national leaders who are also known for their cunning opportunism, had long since ascertained the advantages of ruling a disunited nation and exploited the situation to the hilt.

We have national elections next month–August 2017–and the country is already too tense. Regions have been marked as “hotspots” of violence and people are running away from one another. Meanwhile Kenyans online engage in a vicious tribal war of words.

It is too sad. I am terrified. I feel like a foreigner here.

It is for this reason that for today’s WE ARE THE WORLD BLOGFEST #WATWB, I searched for a subject that might, even remotely, deal with the present situation in Kenya.

So meet the extraordinary Fatuma Abdulkadir Adan who grew up in a tribally violent region of Kenya, and who, instead of threatening the warring tribes with arrests and convictions, as our leaders often do–though in vain–has found a common interest amongst the people of her region and uses it to bring them together and champion for peaceful co-existence.

Under the program she calls “Shoot to score, not to kill”, she has mobilised the youth to play Football together and hold dialogues about their cultures and causes of conflicts among them. So far she has 10,000 youth participating in the games, each one of them being an ambassador for peace.

Fatuma studied law, the knowledge of which she also uses to fight for the rights of the vulnerable women in those regions.

Her story is here.

Fatuma Abdulkadir Adan, Source: BBC

This is the fifth celebration of the WE ARE THE WORLD BLOGFEST #WATWB which is carried out every last Friday of the month, and which aims to spread love and positiveness in this vulnerable world. A celebration of heroes who can still restore our faith in humanity, especially in this period when our world seems to be full of endless series of horrible happenings.

Our generous co-hosts for July are Damyanti Biswas, Simon Falk, Roshan Radhakrishnan, Inderpreet Uppal, and Sylvia Stein.

 

To sign up for We Are The World Blogfest, please see the guidelines below.

~~~GUIDELINES~~~

1. Keep your post to below 500 words, as much as possible.
2. All we ask is you link to a human news story on your blog on the last Friday of each month, one that shows love, humanity, and brotherhood. Something like this news  about a man who only fosters terminally ill children.
3. Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.
4. Place the WE ARE THE WORLD Badge on your sidebar, and help us spread the word on social media. Tweets, Facebook shares, G+ shares using the #WATWB hashtag through the month most welcome. More Blogfest signups mean more friends, love and light for all of us.
5. We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.
6. To signup, add your link in WE ARE THE WORLD Linky List

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