A champion in every sense…..

If anyone ever doubts or wonders how football and sport can change peoples lives for the positive, then they need to read the blog below written and expressed so articulately by one of our leading players and I would say change makers in the group. Hopefully someone, somewhere will make the courageous steps he did to change his life and get involved…..a champion in every sense.

 

I am one but a privileged few to be apart of social inclusion, not only as user, but as a supportive role to assist wherever possible. Beset with agoraphobia, social anxiety and depression in my early years, I first sought to link up with organisations (coasters) and eventually streets revolution, it has helped my transition of being a user of such services to becoming a more supportive role for current users within social inclusion.

The Social inclusion Cup recently held at Warneford hospital was a success for many reasons I believe. Awareness – It highlighted that no matter what varying degrees of disability (mental) a person may have, all are welcome. Togetherness – On the day of the event many teams entered into the social inclusion, and many people bonded and became friends from other teams. From my perspective this creates a sense of self – worth to feel apart of something. Networking and Interaction - Through initiatives we were also able to interact with local organisations through a series of team challenges to undergo tasks and complete criteria. It was a tremendously exciting and engaging way to be encouraged and educated whilst simultaneously interacting with people and local organisations.

The social inclusion cup was a fantastic spectacle for all on the day. From users to spectators it was a great day to bring people together. Such was the togetherness, not only from my own football team, but from others too – It felt like I didn’t just make friends on the day, but rather inherited a whole new big family!!!

“Sport has the power to change the world. The power to inspire, the power to unite people in a way little else can”.

Nelson Mandela.

From my perspective the social inclusion cup has the power to break through societal boundaries and include people such as myself, so I am able to develop key skills and use these as a platform to build and apply these to future social inclusion cups in a supportive capacity.

 

Streets Revolution Uganda, the story so far…..

We caught up on-line with Mukasa Nassar and asked him to tell us what’s been happening in Uganda and his plans for the future

How did you start?

Streets Revolution Uganda is a brain child of Streets Revolution CIC, initiated in 2011 by Mukasa Nassar who had a similar vision of reaching out to the marginalized and less fortunate people in Uganda through the power of sports and edutainment activities. Through strategic multi partnership and networking with Jonathan Regler, It fully started operating on 3rd Oct 2011 and since then it has been progressing steadily on its mission of engaging, educating, empowering and making a positive lasting change in people’s lives.
What are you doing?

Streets Revolution Uganda is engaged in a number of activities which include mobilizing the hard to reach population to engage in positive activities which promote their wellbeing (music and playing football); planning, developing and sustaining drop in and training sessions; organizing friendly matches and lobbying for technical, logistical and financial support.

What is the impact of football? 

Football has enhanced talent identification and Individual development; promoted physical fitness, health life styles & disease Prevention; torn apart the walls of social paradigm attached with homelessness; Social Integration and Social capital development; i.e. making new friends; healed scars of trauma and depression for those who had lost hope for the future; boosted discipline, leadership and teamwork skills of members engaged.

The team from Uganda

Hopes for the future?

To expand to other hard to reach population; To introduce more sports and edutainment programs; To organize youth health camps; To get volunteers with vast experience in sports coaching and refereeing; To introduce Social Inclusion Tournaments and engage in both national and international tournaments; and To create skills development centre and employment opportunities for self- reliance.

Participants in Uganda were asked a few questions and this is what they said (5 Ugandan Schillings is less than 10p) ~

Aphan Kibugo

He is 21 years old and one of our members from a vulnerable home. His guardians could not afford meeting his scholastic needs and fees for his secondary education. Because of his talents and passion for football, he was awarded a scholarship for his higher education and just recently finished his S.6 final exams for his Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE). He seeks going for further professional career in coaching. Because of his passion for coaching, we have partly assigned him the role of coaching the junior team of kids, he loves it so much.

Through our interactive conversations with him he had this to say

What have you got from playing with SR Uganda?

My playing with SRU has helped so much on improving my skills in football as well as coaching, he have been able to practice what we learn and teaching it to my fellow young brothers in the junior team; I have also been able to make more friends on the pitch and outside the pitch. The community has also started seeing and appreciating my coaching skills I pass on the young ones. I have also remained physically fit due to the daily training.

What do you hope to achieve?

I hope to continue with my career in football coaching and passing on skills to the young ones. I hope one day in future to become a professional player and a coach in a big team.

What is your daily life like for you?

I was always bored when I came back for holidays because I lacked friends to play organised football with but since I joined SRU, I have gained hope and my future seems brightened

How can we help you from outside Uganda?

You can help me by sponsoring my professional career of coaching; providing me with equipments and football kits, funds to facilitate team activities like paying subscription to participate in national tournaments and travelling and meeting other small needs of children for instance sometimes, children ask me for water during training. You can also support with first aid medical kits.

What would you do with 5 UG shillings? How would it help you?

I would save it, help me in buying my needs like football kits, and if I happen to save enough funds, I would use it for supporting me in continuing with education career.

 

2. Ojobie Joel 15yrs.

He is half orphan and dropped out of school because the mum could not afford paying for his scholastic needs. By the time we identified him he was at high risk of joining the street life due to being desperate and idle.

What have you got from playing with SR Uganda?

I have learned football skills, team work, discipline and I have also got many friends which I never used to have before.

What do you hope to achieve?

I hope one day to become a professional footballer and play for Uganda Cranes. I also hope to get more football skills and become a famous midfielder like Alex of

What is your daily life like for you?

I was bored, used to spend my day in the local cinema halls watching movies and their friends I had got who were on the street who were encouraging me to take drugs but I refused.

How can we help you from outside Uganda?

To support me in going back to school, to help me with football kits like balls, shoes, jerseys.

What would you do with 5 UG shillings? How would it help you?

I would save it and buy my needs like shoes, clothes, books.

Kagere Assuman 17 yrs. He is from a needy family and a school drop out because parent could afford to meet the school needs

What have got from playing with SR Uganda?

I have gained skills, I have become physically fit, I have also made many friends, I have also been taught discipline and team work

What do you hope to achieve?

To become a professional footballer and play for the Uganda cranes. I also hope to go outside Uganda and play international football. I also hope to make more friends.

What is your daily life like for you?

I was so lonely and spent most of time wandering aimless on streets, looking for what to do and earn a survival. Then I got a casual job to wash people’s cars which I do up to now.

How can we help you from outside Uganda?         

To support me in continuing with education through giving school fees, scholastic materials, football kits like jerseys, shoes and also giving me more skills and tactics

What would you do with 5 UG shillings? How would it help you?

I would save it and buy my needs like clothes, food, training jersey and shoes.

I would also save it and buy my scholastic needs, pay tuition and start a small business to support me.

meet the kids who love football

If you want to support any of our projects and the work we want to have to achieve then click on the link and make a donation Streets Revolution CIC and help us make a difference.

Thanks on Behalf of Mukasa

La langue de l’inclusion sociale (The Language of Social inclusion)

I have recently returned from a visit to Perpignan, an exchange visit to see how across europe we can form an Association that brings together people with Mental health problems who have used sport and other leisure activities to assist in recovery and impact change in their communities.

Along side the nurses and leaders from COASTERS, we met up with other similar volunteers and workers from Belgium, France, and Slovakia.

It was interesting hearing and exploring how other countries and individuals are working on the ways in which attitudes and perceptions need to be changed and the similarities in which we work to change internal thoughts through collective sports and programmes designed to build self esteem and confidence.

J’ai récemment rentré d’une visite à Perpignan, une visite d’échange pour voir comment à travers l’Europe, nous pouvons former une association qui rassemble des gens avec des problèmes de santé mentale qui ont utilisé le sport et autres activités de loisirs pour aider à changer la récupération et l’impact dans leurs communautés.

À côté des infirmières et des dirigeants de VERRES, nous avons rencontré avec d’autres bénévoles similaires et les travailleurs de la Belgique, la France et la Slovaquie.

Il était intéressant d’entendre et d’explorer comment les autres pays et les individustravaillent sur la façon dont les attitudes et les perceptions doivent être modifiées et les similitudes dans lequel nous travaillons à changer les pensées internes à travers le sport collectif et des programmes visant à construire l’estime de soi et la confiance.

I have seen how even though our French was not as good as their English and our Slovakian non existent, we were not only able to understand each other, but shared and communicated our passion for making a difference, I have added a few videos of some of the people we met and the work they do at LaMaison Bleue.

We met some fascinating people with wonderful stories of hope and possibilities and explore how even more can be achieved if we work together,

Many people believe in recovery and yet in France many struggle to be given the opportunity to once again become fully fledged members of society , plagued with inconsistencies and bureaucracy, with funding shortages and struggles with discrimination and stigma, sound familiar?

Our visit to LaMaison Bleue

J’ai vu comment, même si notre français n’est pas aussi bon que leur anglais et de notre existant slovaque non, nous n’étions pas seulement capables de comprendre les uns les autres, mais partagée et communiquée notre passion pour faire une différence, j’ai ajouté quelques vidéos de certains des gens que nous avons rencontrés et le travail qu’ils accomplissent au LaMaison Bleue.

Nous avons rencontré certaines personnes fascinant avec de merveilleuses histoiresd’espoir et de possibilités et d’explorer comment encore plus peut être réalisé et de travailler ensemble,

Beaucoup de gens croient dans le rétablissement et encore en France beaucoup peinent à avoir la possibilité de redevenir membres à part entière de la société à nouveau, aux prises avec des contradictions et de la bureaucratie, avec des pénuries de financement et de luttes avec la discrimination et la stigmatisation,semble familier?

We are hoping to see the project in Bratislva in Slovakia soon and also visit the guys and girls in Belgium, with a culmination event in Oxford 2013.

Whatever the plans we are all passionate about the power of sport and how it be used for social change the individual languages are different, but the language of social inclusion is shared and universal and brings a light of hope for the future of people who for too long now have been discriminated against ,misunderstood and targeted.

Its only by sharing knowledge and experiences can we hope to have a lasting impact on members of our society not strangers in the wilderness.

Nous espérons voir le projet dans Bratislva en Slovaquie, bientôt, et aussi visiter les gars et les filles en Belgique, avec un événement culminant à Oxford 2013.

Quelles que soient les plans, nous sommes tous passionnés par le pouvoir du sportet comment il sera utilisé pour un changement social les différentes langues sont différentes, mais la langue de l’inclusion sociale est partagé et universel et apporte une lumière d’espoir pour l’avenir du peuple qui souffre depuis trop longtemps ont été discriminés incompris et ciblées.
Son seul en partageant les connaissances et les expériences que nous pouvons espérer avoir un impact durable sur les membres de notre société n’est pas des étrangers dans le désert.

It struck me that the language of social inclusion is the same as the universal language of football and allows for many comparisons and as all players hope for an equal chance to participate, so do people with a variety of people who have or are suffering from mental health problems.

The players hope for rules that are equal and fair, for the opportunity despite skill or ability, to be allowed to express themselves, not be bullied or prevented from that by so called ‘stronger’ members of the team, and most of all they all feel the same when a GOAL is scored and that is the joy of the sport, that allows equality of enjoyment.

Il m’a semblé que la langue de l’inclusion sociale est le même que le langage universel du football et permet des comparaisons nombreuses et, comme tous les joueurs espèrent une chance égale de participer, de sorte que les gens avec une variété de personnes qui ont ou qui sont atteintes de troubles mentaux problèmes de santé.

Les joueurs d’espoir pour des règles qui sont justes et équitables, pour l’occasion en dépit de compétences ou la capacité, pour être autorisé à s’exprimer, ne pas êtreintimidés ou empêchés d’qu’en soi-disant plus «forte» des membres de l’équipe, et surtout ils ont tous ressentent la même chose quand un but est marqué et qui est la joie de ce sport, qui permet l’égalité de jouissance.

We wish everyone a prosperous and equal new year in 2012. Where ever you maybe.

Nous souhaitons à tous une année prospère et égalitaire de nouvelles en 2012. Où que vous peut-être.

The Oxford Social Inclusion Cup 2011

We are nearly there, all the planning and sweating will they come is nearly over.
The Oxford Social Inclusion Cup 2011 kicks off in October to raise awareness of people suffering mental distress and people experiencing homelessness.
Streets Revolution CIC, in partnership with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, is hosting a 6-a-side football tournament on Monday 10 October at Warneford Hospital, Oxford, 10am-5pm, to mark World Homeless Day and World Mental Health Day.
Teams from organisations working with people who are homeless or with mental health issues are needed to take part in the competition. Teams must be 6-a-side and players must be over 16. By entering a team, organisations can promote the work they do as well as make the event a positive experience for participants.
The competition’s message is ‘More than Words’, as Jon Regler, Chairman of Streets Revolution, explains: “The purpose of Streets Revolution is to give people something to associate themselves with, something to label themselves with that isn’t homelessness or mental health or any of the other negatives in their lives. Everyone who comes along has been harmed or marginalised by words in some way – whether through labels that society has decided to put on them or simply because of a lack positive, affirmative words in their lives.”
The tournament is partly paid for by an Anti-Stigma Mental Health Grant, which Streets Revolution bid for earlier this year from a grant funded by Oxfordshire PCT and managed by Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action (OCVA).
To help the day go off with a bang, the organisers are looking for donations for goodie bags for the participants, for example shower gel, sports socks, key rings or pens. They also need donations of refreshments to serve throughout the event.
To donate items,or money!!!
Contact Jon Regler
Watch the video here      http://www.twitvid.com/TFDUQ

The Stars come out again

On the 10th of October 2011,we will be hosting the Oxford Social Inclusion Cup(OSIC) an annual football tournament which aims to raise awareness of the issues of marginalised members of our community and especially the people who find themselves HOMELESS.

Crisis recently released a report, a further effort, to understand this much used and misconstrued expression to describe someone who for one reason or another finds themselves without a stable, permanent HOME of their own.

I found myself looking into a cloudless sky last night, in awe of the brightness and beauty of the stars.

It made me reflect on the OSIC event and how we now know that on that day we can celebrate the rising stars on the field, the shooting stars off the field who have helped in various ways along the journey.

Also the many stars that have faded and died along the way, too many to mention individually and not always noticed.

Q. How many people are considered HOMELESS in the UK?

A. How many stars in the night sky?

Some are really obvious and bright and noticeable, others hidden on friends sofas and in squats, in police and prison cells for somewhere safe and warm to stay. In strangers homes for motives not so pure….

Some are now well used to keeping out of the public eye, and like it that way, sleeping in places not really fit for purpose, but away from prying eyes.

No one star is better than the other, no situation a homeless person finds themselves in worse than the next.

It’s all WRONG and not justifiable.

On the 10/10/11 we are aiming under the theme of #morethanwords to use our tournament to kick out the words people use for OUR stars and hope you join us in person or in spirit.

The hidden stars need to come out, we need to celebrate the shooting stars on there way up, and encourage others to aim for the stars.

The A-Z of a Homeless man

A Being Clearly Doing Everything For Grateful Housing In Justification Knowing Lesser Mortals Never Often Pass, Quickly Resigning So That Underclass Vagrants Write X Zzzzzzz !!!!

More Than Words

The theme of this years Oxford Social Inclusion Cup is “More than Words” and the message that stigma around mental illness and homelessness needs to change. Here are some thoughts around the stigma around mental illness.

For years and years people with mental illness were locked away in Asylums and people even used to pay to come and watch the patients as a form of entertainment.

Mental Health care has moved forward miles and miles since then and now many people with mental illness are living with support in the community working towards their recoveries and many more would have recovered completely. Although the services have moved forward and the public’s perception has changed and will continue to change, STIGMA is still very much alive.

The impact of negative words can be devastating and can “lock” people out of society in the same way that the Asylums used to.

How many newspaper articles have you seen using the words ” nutter” or “psycho”?

How many times have you heard people using these negative words to refer to someone’s behaviour?

So why does stigma still exist? Is it because of poor education around mental illness? For example in many shops you can still buy t-shirts that state “I used to be schizophrenic but we’re ok now”. This statement pokes fun at a serious illness and is factually inaccurate in that people with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia do not have a split mind or two separate identities. So why do people find statements like these acceptable and even amusing? Would there be a t-shirt that says “I had a heart attack but I’m fine now”? Or ” I’m blind what are you looking at”? It’s not right; why is physical illness socially acceptable but mental illness not?

If we look at the facts 1 in 4 people will experience some form of mental health problem in their lifetime. Therefore people who use these negative words are likely to be insulting a member of their family, a work colleague, a friend or even themselves in the future…

Mental illness doesn’t need to be that hard to comprehend. Take depression for example; imagine that day in your life when a close relative died, feel that sadness again, that is a symptom of depression. Add to that a change in your sleep pattern, a lack of appetite and a difficulty in concentrating and you may be diagnosed with depression. It’s something that we can all relate to. And with further education around other mental illnesses they can become relatable too at the end of the day it’s about relating to suffering and that is something that everyone has experienced in their lives.

Mental illness does not have to define somebody in the same way that people who are physically unwell are not defined by their diagnoses. Recovery is alive and well and is being pushed more and more into the forefront of modern mental health care. People can recover, their lives can change and as a result people can become stronger and stronger. When a person is on their journey of recovery do you think that it helps if they are called a nutter? If they are socially outcast from their communities? Or…… would it help if there was no shame? If they could approach their friends and families easily for support? If they could apply for jobs without worrying about discrimination?

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT STIGMA?

- Challenge negative language in the press, in the workplace, in your communities.

- Learn more about mental illness

- Speak to your friends and families about these issues

- Join the campaigns that are running in social networks

- Attend events such as the Oxford Social Inclusion Cup

This list is by no means exhaustive and this post by no means expresses all of the impact that stigma can have….but what I hope it does express is the hope that stigma can be irradiated from our society.

Homeless means…..

I have been getting excited with only 3 days to go to the Homeless World Cup in Paris.
Every year players from all corners of the world come together in celebration and recognition of the hard work and effort they have made to get themselves on an even keel again.

It led me to think what does it mean to be homeless?

Maybe it is better to say what it isn’t rather than what it is.

It isn’t PERMANENT, it is for a lot of people a circumstance, sometimes a long time, but either at the beginning or the end of adult life.

It isn’t the END, alot of people will move forward or return to lead a positive life again.

It isn’t CATCHING, it’s not a disease in which you can by contact alone become homeless yourself.

Although some would argue it is a plague or epidemic, which unless as a society we collectively agree we have to eradicate, will only grow in numbers.

It is not HOPELESS, we can all make a difference, in small ways locally, nationally and globally we can help, be creative.

We at Streets Revolution have found one way as have similar projects around the world.

It’s about being creative to find small ways YOU can help!!!

It isn’t about STEREOTYPES, every person I have met had a unique story and a unique struggle.

Labelling is a big factor, and only enables the problem to remain, maybe by listening to the personal stories from all the players at the Homeless World Cup, you will gain a better understanding.

A maybe, just maybe that’s how a BALL CAN CHANGE THE WORLD.

From Slum to Soccer Star

My name is Patrick Hato i was born into a family of four and i am the first born.I started playing football at the age of 12yrs in Korogocho slums.

In the year 1997 i made my first trip to Norway as a player in under sixteen category to participate in an annual tournament called Norway cup.Last year i was the captain of Kenya in HWC held in Rio.

My football experience had been challenging due to the environment which i was brought into, it is drugs and crime infested.
Thank God football had always been my partner and this is why i escaped all this.I have also changed other street boys come out of drugs and crime to join sports activities.
My hopes for Streets Revolution Kenya Fc is to use sports as a tool for change in a community that is poverty stricken, environmentally unhealthy and crime infested and to also improve living conditions of village and slum dwellers.A part from sports we will be running other programmes namely HIV/AIDS,clean ups in our village,Batik making,leadership project where youth come together work on leadership skills,drama,music,poetry among others.

We’re on a Journey

This weekend we travelled on what we hope is our first of many mini residential.
Hosted by Liverpool Homeless Football Club, we played the inaugural OXPOOL cup.
It is physically a lot of miles from oxford, and mentally a whole new experience for the majority.
It’s a journey that was also a metaphor of the life of the lads that came and the volunteers that went with them.

Some missed the opportunity for a variety of reasons, that is not unusual, the people we engage with OUR players, no matter how good the incentive, still can’t grasp it when it comes knocking.

Preparation from the volunteers and myself was fraught with many frustrating moments and hundreds of phone calls.

We set off in our normal late fashion, the best laid plans and all that.

In Liverpool the nervous banter came out as did the terrible attempts at scouse accents.

We had arranged a walking tour of the city which not everyone was so keen on , half went back to the accommodation and the rest stayed.

Interestingly the half that went, expressed how at first they didn’t want to do it either, but came back full of energy and positivity from the experience. They surprised themselves and me.

It was at this moment I realised, the journey was really unfolding before my eyes.

Taking people out their environment and into new surroundings, for some is scary. Asking them to try new things is difficult, I lost count of how many times players asked me what’s happening next.

The need for reassurance was tangible, the need to test the boundaries was real.

And yet they all were changing slowly, relaxing into the situation and their new surroundings.

Some more naturally then others, it’s these coping strategies that we ALL rely on in everyday life.
Constantly reevaluating the situations life throws at us and for the most part rolling with the punches.

During the match on the Sunday, you see the issues manifest themselves and how different individuals cope in different ways.
How do you cope when things get tough or life seems unfair?, the coping skills varied from walking away to digging in, from confronting head on to laughing them off.

In football as in life we learn and we adapt, in truth there is no right or wrong way just what works.

We lost the match 8-4, but made new friends and went on a journey, it may not have changed us permanently, it did plant seeds of change that may grow.

The proof, if any is needed, that football can be used to change peoples lives, was found on the trip home.

One of our players who openly admitted he was addicted to cannabis, was stating after the match.
“my legs are knackered” he said.

” but it’s strange, I haven’t smoked(cannabis) all weekend and my body feels alive!!”

That is something that will stick with him I hope for along time. It’s part of the JOURNEY!!!!