25th June, 2009
Transforming Lives Through Football in Katine
In early June, 20,000 people from across the Soroti district of northeast Uganda gathered to watch, cheer, and chant as 48 teams competed in a week-long youth football tournament hosted by AMREF and partner organisations.
The tournament — designed as a tool to spread health messages and heal rifts in this vulnerable, post-conflict area — attracted people of all ages to football matches in Katine, a sub-district where AMREF, the Guardian, and Barclays are delivering an innovative three-year health development project.
“Because of war and rebel insurgencies over the past two decades, the people of Katine have some of the worst health indicators in rural Uganda,” say Katine project manager Oscar Okech. “The football tournament was an opportunity to build on the work AMREF is already doing to improve the lives of the people here.”
At each of the matches, AMREF staff and volunteers reached out to fans and players with health messages encouraging them to practice good hygiene and sanitation at their homes, take their children to health centres when they are sick, and seek out medical help when delivering babies.
“We've never had such a chance to show our talent," says Joseph Opus, who plays for Opuyo Super Eagles. The Super Eagles finished second in the under-18s division, losing 1-0 in the final to Don Victorious.
“Such interest and enthusiasm from the fans and the players makes our job of educating people about health and sanitation much easier. We reached thousands of people during the week. It was great,” says Lilian Veko, AMREF’s education officer in Katine.
Tournament partners the Guardian, the Soroti Rural Development Agency, Teso League Project, and the Federation of Uganda Football Associations helped to organise the event, upgrading local football pitches and providing uniforms and equipments to participating teams. Barclays generously arranged for the Premier League trophy to be flown in from the UK to mark the launch of the event.
You can find more information about the Katine project here, and you can follow the Guardian’s ongoing coverage of the project here.
AMREF would like to thank Kentz Global Oil & Gas Process Systems Ltd for their generous donation of £5000 to the tournament.
Related: Photo essay | Guardian coverage of the tournament
Photograph: Dan Chung/The Guardian