|
|
During my time in Nagpur, I met some ordinary but inspirational people who, step by step and little by little, are doing what they can to bring about positive change in communities in India. This blog post seeks to pay an appropriate tribute to them and their work, which I think will be some of the most precious memories I will take from my trip and a motivation for me to take more of my own steps to follow in their example in future. An earlier blog mentioned Leah Pattison and her work with Women in Need (www.women-in-need.co.uk) and during my stay I also briefly met Jackie Skinner from Goals for Girls (www.goalsforgirls.org) and staff from Coaches Across Continents (www.coachesacrosscontinents.org), two NGOs which also use football to aid development across the world. However, I can go no further without paying tribute to and giving thanks for Mr Vijay Barse (pictured with his wife below), the founder and original driving force of Slum Soccer. It was a privilege to spend some time with him during my stay to learn more about him and his work and he was extremely kind in ensuring that I was so well looked after during my stay. Slum Soccer, especially in Nagpur, feels like a family, and I think that that is in no small part to Mr Barse’s example. In addition to their own three children, Mr Barse and his wife have legally adopted and provided for three more – Umesh and Varsha (brother and sister) whose mother died when they were younger, their father remarried and effectively abandoned them to a children’s home; and Homkant (who is now Slum Soccer’s head coach), who ran away from home and was found living on the streets. Most days Mr Barse would stay at the guest house rather than at his house in the city so that he could be around to serve breakfast to Consti (the fellow volunteer from Germany) and I, and we would often be joined around the table by young men from the local village who help out around the site – Shubham, Bunty, Vikas et al and Bardel, one of the football scholars – all effectively part of the family and who are being provided with opportunities to develop through disciplined education and training, which they may not have had otherwise. There was often much banter around the breakfast table to accompany the tea and sweet toast (usually combined through dipping!) As much as the great job that Mr Barse’s son, Abhijeet, is now doing in leading the organisation day to day and developing its scale and reach, Mr Barse continues to see Slum Soccer’s mission as primarily being about giving opportunities to individuals like these to build better lives for themselves and their communities (using football as a tool). Many of Slum Soccer’s young staff (most at Nagpur are in the picture above) have come through the programmes themselves and are now giving back to their communities through coaching and leading the work. One such example is Pankaj, who was working in Chennai during my visit (pictured with me below) but whose home is in Nagpur. Pankaj is from humble circumstances – his family house has two rooms but only a tarpaulin roof. A few years ago his father sadly passed away following alcohol and tobacco addictions. Pankaj’s hopes of studying further were dashed as he needed to get a job to provide financial support to his mother and family. He worked for a while as a painter but didn’t enjoy it and alcohol and tobacco were also temptations for him: he was feeling pretty low and empty at the time. He had never really played football before, but one day heard about one of Slum Soccer’s sessions and went along. Homkant, the chief coach, told him it didn’t matter that he hadn’t played before and that he could be taught what to do – he could also be helped to become a coach. The rest, as they say, is history. Pankaj learned how to play, became a coach and is now one of the senior coaches. He really enjoys his work and he doesn’t now have anything to do with alcohol or tobacco. In 2013, he was one of the Indian team which played at the Homeless World Cup in Poznan, Poland and he has completed Slum Soccer’s Young Leadership Programme. He has pretty much learned English by himself (to some extent from studying the Oxford English Dictionary!) and he would really like to study sports management in the UK, the USA or Australia in future. What a wonderful example of how work like this can really help to change lives for good! Mr Barse’s vision and work is informed by his Christian faith (although it should be stressed that Slum Soccer’s work does not have a religious foundation and is open to all): he has also opened a “believers church” at Bokhara to reach out to the local village with the good news of Jesus Christ. I had the privilege of meeting other Christians in Nagpur too, who are also seeking to play their part in God’s mission to the world. They would, I’m sure be slightly embarrassed by the suggestion, but Hansraj and Kath (who are friends of a friend back in Newcastle) and their daughter Anu (all pictured next to me below), seemed to me to be like modern day Nehemiahs – faithfully pressing on with God’s work to which they have felt called despite various setbacks. Hansi was formerly secretary to the Indian equivalent of the Christian Medical Fellowship which seeks to help Christians working in the healthcare professions to apply their faith to the work they do. Kath is a teacher and Anu is gifted in administration. They felt called to also work with the underprivileged who live in the slum communities of Nagpur. Sadly, often the men in such communities get involved in violence and various addictions and it is easier to bring about change through working with local women, who are usually left to run the home, and children, the next generation. So, after engaging with the slum community in one area of the city, Kath and Hansi established a school. In time, this became very popular and successful and began to have a positive, improving effect on the surrounding community. So much so that the local authorities and other vested interests began to oppose the work as they didn’t want the status quo to be changed! In the end this sadly led Hansi and Kath to look for another site to continue their work. They were unable to find a site near the original place in the slums so they have had to move into a new area – a village which is a few minutes drive from the Slum Soccer compound at Bokhara. The means have been provided for them to purchase a large site and they have a great vision to build a campus to serve the local community, primarily for a school but with space for other services such as primary healthcare and other ministries to the church and wider society. They have again faced various difficulties – not least dealing with various levels of bureaucracy and problematic neighbours - and Kath is now battling cancer, but they are continuing to press on as they are able in the God’s strength and timings. I had the privilege of meeting Hansi, Kath and Anu a couple of times whilst I was in Nagpur – I was very grateful for their kind hospitality and welcome - and I visited the site of their planned campus. The school is open and quite a bit of the site infrastructure is in place, but they need more funds to progress further. As with the wonderful folks at Slum Soccer, I hope to keep in touch with Hansi, Kath and Anu now I’m back in the UK.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorJonathan. Chartered Accountant from Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Spending a couple of months as an AfID volunteer working with Slum Soccer in Nagpur, India. Saved by grace through faith to do good works. ArchivesCategories |