Sport the Bridge is an organisation that focuses on rehabilitating street kids back into the homes oftheir own family or if they have no family into others.
There are 5 main departments at the organisation. Sport, Health and Nutrition, Psychology, Family Affairs & Integration and Administration. I've spent a bit of time with the Sport and Family departments and from what I've seen and heard, Sport the Bridge are an absolutely fantastic Organisation.
How does it work?
Homelessness is a major issue in Addis Ababa, just walking down 100m of high street you will come across at least 10 people sleeping rough. What makes it worse, kids are no exception to this rule.
Sport the Bridge take to the streets twice a year in October and March at either night time or the early hours of the morning. They invite the child to their offices where I've been staying the last week and from here the child begins the first year of the STB programme.
A typical day will start around 9am when the kids will arrive, wash and put on their STB uniforms that have been donated to the organisation. Every child has a breakfast snack and then onto a session of sport from 10 till 12. STB teach a range of games and activities, all of which contain a message and a skill to help develop each child and help them to learn life skills such as team bonding and fairness. Every sport session ends with football which is the real attraction for the boys and plays a big part in getting them to return to STB each day.
After football the kids go back to the offices to get washed and fed. The food always smells amazing and without STB providing two meals a day the boys would be undoubtedly searching for scraps on the street.
After lunch the boys have education. They're taught a range of relative subjects designed to help improve their lives. English, Amharic and Maths are the main three but they are also taught about Hygiene, Drugs, Psychology and Art. The fact that STB focus on relative subjects that other schools still class as taboo and choose to be naive and ignore, is fantastic. STB do not try to cover up issues, they work hard to find out all the facts about every child and they have the skills to overcome and solve every situation.
The children finish at the office at half 3 where they return to the streets to battle whatever dangers come their way and at this time of year, the cold nights are hard enough to endure let alone anything else! STB does not have the facilities to board every child and so every child is essentially given the choice if they want to return each day. More often than not they do return for obvious reasons, its fun. STB offer food, fun, education and most importantly love.
The dedication shown by STB is outstanding and they do not stop at any hurdle. After the first year the child is integrated back into their family if possible. If this is not possible then STB have other options like other NGO's, Orphanages and their own house that they rent in order to house everyone.
From here the kids aren't just forgotten about as for the next four years the kids are monitored closely through contact with teachers and family to ensure everything is ok and that they've been attending school. STB even go that extra mile to ensure the child's family is able to cope by offering to pay for first year school fees, resources the child may need and even offer job skill training to help the parents if they are without work.
STB are very strict on getting a good education and so if they find out that the child hasn't been attending school then they will not be allowed to play for the football team. They can do this successfully because its clear to see by the crowds of lads that watch training that everyone wants to play for STB. This is a testament to the coaches Grimmy and Jonas and I applaud STB for maintaining their good morals with no exceptions.
If there are any hiccups throughout these five years then STB will strive to get things back on track and if needs be, go back to the streets to find the boy. STB give the children a chance to live a successful life, they teach each child important life skills and make it fun at the same time. They are the figure of strength, protection, knowledge and most importantly love for every single boy. STB except girls as well but it seems the boys are more frequent.
My short time at STB has been invaluable and everyday was a privilege to be surrounded by an atmosphere of kindness and safety. A really great organisation and I'm sure I will be staying in contact with them for a long time to come.
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