PEACE is an invaluable thing that we have to take care of every day! It’s important to remember about respect, dialogue and cooperation every day! On the last week of summer, 80 years after the outbreak of World War II, young people from Israel, Germany, Russia and Poland presented how to use football to create the future together.
30 youngsters from Poland, Israel, Germany and Russia took part in Fairplay Football3 Festival dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the WW II outbreak. The exchange took place in two Polish cities. Preparations took place in Mragowo on Fedex field in the box and the final highlight at the Legia Stadium– both featured football3 matches as well as the discussion of serious social problems: discrimination, lack of freedom, racism and violence. Through communication and playing together, youngsters established a positive contact and discussed how we can build a better future together. The event was organized and hosted by MSIS in partnership with The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation (Israel), RheinFlanke (Germany), Brandenburgische Sportjugend (Germany) and Pskov Children’s Foundation (Russia). Each delegation was represented by 6 youngsters (3 girls and 3 boys), a leader and a young leader. In addition to football and dialogue, the festival introduced a number of cultural exchange workshops – each group of youngsters could present their local culture, community and the way they play football3. Cultural experience was completed by learning about history in 2 museums of Warsaw. Children could see extreme examples of the social problems they had discussed and come up with some ideas of how we can ensure a bright and peaceful future for ourselves. Here are a few thoughts of the event from the leaders and young leaders of the participating delegations:
Young leader’s impressions from the event:
ALINA (young leader from Pskov children’s foundation, Russia) :
Events like this remind us that for children political borders do not exist and cultural differences are there rather to unite us than separate. One of my biggest concerns was the language barrier that children from our delegation could have faced. But I was amazed to see it was not a problem even for those who went abroad for the first time – they took the challenge and made the most of any opportunity to make friends with other youngsters. Thanks to this event they have learnt an important lesson – the world around them is friendly and open, full of people eager to communicate and support each other.
MARTA (young leader from Brandenburgische Sportjugend, Germany):
“80 years after IIWW – we create future together” was the perfect Title for this multi-cultural event and the hidden Thought of it was “How to work together for a better future and a safer tomorrow for every living being?” Indeed were all the participants open minded and warm hearted, but putting topics like “cultural differs, discrimination, violence and racism” on the table and discussing everything step by step, made an important impact not only on the participants but also on the whole world, since everything is connected. I believe that every participant learned something new, learned how to help the weaker, and are more aware of the importance of respect for each other. And the wonderful part is- respect can be taught by sports. That´s where Football3 comes in the game. And even though every participating StreetSoccer-Organisation has her own rules the Goal is always the same – Respect, equal rights, tolerance, participation, anti-discrimination and fairness. Words that brought into action take care of a better tomorrow. Big thanks to MSIS and all the other organisations for organizing this and giving a big Puzzle peace of Knowledge for every child/teenager participating. And even a bigger Thank You to all the youngsters for taking part, brainstorming and caring. Together we can achieve more and together we can save the future.
CHARLOTTA: (young leader from RheinFlanke, Germany):
To explore the city, we did a town quiz rally in Mrągowo. I went with some of my youth and boys and girls from Israel to the city. The participants had to carry out specific tasks, for instance What is Pączki and what is the best place to eat Pączki? or Find inhabitants, who sing a special song about the town Mrągowo. I kept myselve in the background and I wanted that the participants carried out the tasks by themselves. It was wonderful to observe how the participants started to communicate in english and tried to complete the tasks together. At the beginning the participants where shy but during the town quiz rally new friendships were formed.
MAJA: (young leader from MSIS, Poland):
First of all, thank MSIS for being a Young Leader in the tournament. It was my first experience with this task but I think I did well. I’ve met a lot of people who have been kind and helpful. We had a group of many nationalities and religions. In the tasks of creating a common future we had a similar way of thinking, but each of us have a different example. Durning the tournament where I was a mediator, each of the participations tried to play Fair and be creative durning the dialogue zone. I Just wanted to say that I am glad that I participated in this seven-days event and met these people”
SZYMON: (young leader from MSIS, Poland):
It was amazing week, I’m really enjoyed time with all of you and I’m really happy that I can be young leader, player and participant of this tournament. I hope that our way’ll cross someday again!
PAULINA: (young leader from MSIS, Poland):
„80 years after the Second World War” It was unforgettable experience for me. I was a young leader for the first time and learned a lot of new things. I’m glad that I was able to participate in an event that throught sport and other forms of workshops touches upon important concepts such as respect, dialogue, tolernace, etc. Thanks to all the organisations for creating a future together.
KHADIJAH and ELAD: (young leaders from The Peres Centre for Peace and Innovation, Israel):
We learned how to build a good future together with girls and boys from Poland, Germany and Russia. We learned about WWII and learned to understand what happen and what we can learn from thah to build better world with peace.
The event was financed by: Erasmus+, Foundation of Educational System Development, and coofinanced by LOTTO Foundation an supported by Legia Warsaw, FIFA Foundation, ORLEN Foundation, Sportimpakt and Streetfootballworld
The event was held under the patronage of the Embassy of Israel in Poland and the Embassy of Germany in Poland
