To mark #WorldChildrensDay, Street Child United have released a video that calls on the world to take notice of young people around the world who are neglected, impoverished or otherwise marginalised. It asks us all to listen to their voice and make change.
The video shows a poem, inspired by Street Child United’s central message of I Am Somebody, demonstrating how sport and the arts can amplify the voices of the young people. The video is made of footage of Sam performing the poem and footage from the Street Child World Cup 2019.
The poem was written, and is performed in the video below by Sam, who took part in the Street Child World Cup held in Moscow in 2018 as part of Team England (organised by Centrepoint). She is now a UCFB student and volunteer coach at Arsenal FC. This year Sam also became a Street Child United Young Leader, representing the charity at the Street Child Cricket World Cup 2019 and in activities around the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivdq3QGCGGY
At the Street Child World Cup, teams are organised by frontline organisations working with homeless and socially excluded children across the globe. Many of the participating organisations use football as a tool to engage hard-to-reach youth and provide a safe space for them to play, whether in the Penha favela in Rio de Janeiro, where gun violence is endemic, or in central Cairo, where the Nafas charity runs a football league for 400 at-risk youth, or in Payatas in Manila, where the Fairplay for All Foundation helps children who scavenge on the local rubbish dump for a living to return to school.
We Are Somebody
By Sam, Team England, SCWC Moscow 2018
So how do we survive?
How can we bring light into a world that seems only dark?
By sharing stories, by sharing experiences,
By sharing hope, and by inspiring one and another.
