The Don Bosco 'World Cup' - Soccer for peace

DILI, East Timor (Catholic Relief Services) -- Jubilation and excitement recently overwhelmed the fear and uncertainty gripping thousands of people who have taken refuge at the Don Bosco School grounds here, seeking safety from violent upheavals that have driven them from their homes during the last two months.

And it wasn't about a delivery of food, or tents, or health and sanitation supplies, or latrines, or any of the other sorts of things typically needed to help people cope in such an emergency. It was about a soccer tournament. And perfectly timed as it was to coincide with the opening events of the World Cup football series in Berlin, the "Don Bosco World Cup" event during the second weekend in June drew much of the national and international media that are here to cover the troubles in East Timor. In the final game of the three-day event, Brazil beat Portugal 5-4. The story made the international news broadcasts, leading the BBC television's daily report from East Timor -- a report that's been dominated for the last several weeks by violence in which some 20 people have been killed, arson and looting, and the arrival of an Australian-led contingent of international troops. Soccer as Peacebuilding The event was the brainchild of Donal Reilly, an irrepressible young man from Ireland who works for Catholic Relief Services, the humanitarian relief and development agency of the U. S. Catholic community. CRS, along with Caritas Australia, has been coordinating emergency relief from a variety of agencies at the Don Bosco School and at several other sites around East Timor. Don Bosco, a vocational school run by the Salesians that normally has 150 students, has been overrun by as many as 13,000 people who have fled the violence of the last two months in Dili. More than 100,000 people (of the Dili region's population of 167,000) are believed to be living in camps for displaced people in the city and in other parts of the country as far as 75 miles away from their homes. The largest concentration has been at the 15-acre Don Bosco School site. Donal's World Cup idea was quickly and enthusiastically embraced by Brother Adriano de Jesus, the school's headmaster, whose role has transformed from principal to chief caretaker for the thousands of East Timorese living on the school grounds. "We had this idea together, to do something exciting for the children," says Brother Adriano. "It also was a way to get together children from the east and the west of the country, to put them on teams together to overcome their rivalries. And we hoped their parents would see them playing together and see there are no differences between them." Thus, the soccer event became a sort of peacebuilding device. The idea, as Reilly explained it, was to have two groups of eight teams made up of boys from two age groups -- under 12 and over 12. Adding to the timeliness of the event was the idea of having each team represent a country playing in the World Cup. But where to get the jerseys representing those teams? Where to get the soccer balls? These are not items typically found in the storehouses of relief agencies. Reilly saw no obstacle. Others were not so sure. But the supplies arrived in the nick of time. Something of a Miracle Katherine Pondo, CRS' head of program support in Dili, had been evacuated to Bali and was returning the day of the first game. While in Bali, she managed to purchase 190 jerseys emblazoned with the logos of six different World Cup teams: Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, Portugal and England. "Dunno who'll want to wear the England jerseys," Donal chuckled through his brogue. And at the last minute enough soccer balls arrived for the full tournament. They were provided by USAID and carried that agency's logo along with those from several other nongovernmental organizations, including CRS. Banners also materialized emblazoned with messages of peace and a big banner reading, "Don Bosco World Cup 2006. We Are One!" was stretched between two trees at the edge of the small concrete soccer pitch. About an hour before the 4 p.m. start time on the tournament's first day, representatives of the media began to appear, crowding onto the soccer pitch with cameras and notebooks, interviewing Brother Adriano, Donal Reilly and CRS' country representative Jessica Pearl, along with the youngsters now proudly wearing the jerseys they would keep after the games ended. Shortly before the games began, East Timor's First Lady, Kirsty Sword Gusmao, the Australian-born wife of President Xanana Gusmao, arrived with their two young sons and a small security detachment. Mrs. Gusmao thanked everyone for organizing the event. "Thanks to Don Bosco," she said. "We need more of this and less violence." Later, she signed one of the soccer balls with a message of thanks addressed to CRS President Ken Hackett. By this time, a crowd of hundreds had gathered around the small pitch, ready for the games to begin. Donal took on the role of game official, but he who had managed to get the balls and the jerseys and the banners for the tournament did not have the one thing he needed to get the first game started -- a coin to flip to decide which team would kick off. An Associated Press cameraman loaned him a coin, and they were off. The youngsters, all playing in bare feet, were astonishingly good, and as the tournament proceeded into the light of a lowering sun, the roars of support grew into a cacophony of sheer delight and thrill. It was a rare moment, a treasure to be sure. Perhaps even something of a miracle. Veteran foreign correspondent G. Jefferson Price III has traveled the world for CRS, reporting from such hot spots as Niger, Pakistan, Colombia and Sudan.

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Reprinted by Catholic Online with permission of Catholic Relief Services (www.crs.org)