A Community-Based Organization, Youth Solidarity Aid (YSA), in Western Equatoria State’s Mvolo County on Monday graduated 45 youth under 18 years from its sports academy and awarded them certificates from the South Sudan Football Association (SSFA).
YSA Executive Director David Khamis Domuto told Radio Tamazuj Tuesday that the youth were enrolled in the academy when they were below ten years of age and that they have since grown and will join other clubs.
He said the initiative resulted from efforts to address the intercommunal conflicts between Mvolo County and the neighboring Yirol County in Lake State.
“We were able to support Mvolo Football Academy in terms of capacity building through training them and that is why we ended up yesterday graduating them. They have been in the academy and attained the age of 18 and this is why we are graduating them to go to various clubs,” he explained. “The purpose of this academy is to bring young people and train them and later on we send them to the big clubs when they are already oriented. Most of them are orphans who we picked from home when they were still very young and traumatized. That is why we awarded them certificates so they can join clubs with proof that they have been at the academy.”
Khamis said the organization will continue to support sports activities because they can promote peace in the country and that after the boys, they will graduate girls.
“Most of these children who have been at the academy lost their parents and were displaced during the time of communal conflicts here in Mvolo,” he explained. “So, we were able to bring them and train them because sports can build character and good manners in children and prevent them from getting involved in drug abuse, alcohol, and joining street gangs.”
Youth Solidarity Aid is a community-based organization involved in peacebuilding in Mvolo, Yirol, and Wulu counties through sports for peace, reconciliation, dialogue, radio talk shows, and campaigns. The organization is supported by the South Sudan Football Association, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), and 641M Network.