The Kick Project

We are very pleased to announce that The Kick Project has received a $AUD16,500 donation from the Australian Government to fund a pilot soccer program with Rohingya refugees in Malaysia. The funds, coming through the Australian High Commission in Malaysia, will allow the charity to support the Rohingya Football Club which has become a vital part of the exiled Rohingya community in Kuala Lumpur. The program entails kitting out the team, providing transport to games and establishing a sports and community hub where Rohingya people can access sporting equipment and coaching. Young people, and girls in particular, are the long term focus of the initiative. The Kick Project founder James Rose says the Rohingya are in dire need of assistance. "The UN has called the Rohingya arguably the most persecuted group in the world. They've been forced to flee their homelands in Myanmar, where they have been made stateless by government decree, and many have lost their lives...

Pic: upliftconnect.com As the Rio 2016 Olympics get closer - only 2 more sleeps!! - we at The Kick Project, like most, will be watching for all those great moments and stories. We hope that, despite all the apparent pre-Opening Ceremony dramas (just like every other Games in the last 20 years), the Games will provide the sense of connectivity and shared celebration it can deliver. While we are sports fans like anyone and we'll be watching the athletes do their thing, we are always paying attention to the human rights issues surrounding such major sporting events as this . But, there's two special aspects to this year's Games that make our viewing experience even more focussed. Both aspects refer to unique, first time ever, factors in the Games and how they are shaped. Here the first (the next will follow in another post soon) The Refugee Olympic Team We, not surprisingly, were very happy to see the IOC open up to allow refugee athletes to compete at these G...

We have launched our Pozible crowd fund campaign for the Rohingya Football Club initiative in KL, Malaysia. The program is our pilot international program so please consider making a donation to help us get off the ground globally. There are some great rewards, such as shirt sponsorships, available for donors. Full details are on the link provided above. Thankyou.

Click here if the link video above doesn't roll On Friday, April 8 we were involved in bringing coaches from Real Madrid to the Sunshine Coast, here in Australia, to coach some kids from troubled backgrounds. For free. It was a great gesture from the Real Madrid Foundation Clinics Australia group, who were already running some fee-based youth coaching clinics in the country. Some 60 boys and girls from around 7 up to about 16, were bussed up from Brisbane. Most of these were invited by Welcome to Australia, a local NGO working on settling refugees in Australia. A smaller number came from Harmony Place, a not for profit which assists refugee families dealing with trauma and mental health issues. We also invited some "local" players to come along and join in the afternoon friendlies, which we arranged for the afternoon, after the Real Madrid sessions in the morning. For us, it was a chance to test our wings and to see how we fly as an organisation. From our poi...

Fofanah (above) and Gogol with Ric, both boys wearing our great new tshirts Pics: Gil Hinsbey/Ric Jay Here at The Kick Project, we see it as part of our brief to inspire, to show how sport for peace and development can really make a positive difference. While we feel it's important to do our work and to get results, it's also of value to encourage others to do the same, and to help others understand the passion we feel for what we do. As part of this process, we are keen to let our supporters know just how valuable a tool sport, especially football, can be in healing individuals, communities and whole nations. These stories give us all real-life confirmation that sport for peace and development really does work. And, acting as agents for change in this way is one of our motivations to maintain our commitment to what we do. To fulfill this aim, we will be rolling out a series of short videos of noted athletes, from the world of football and from other sports, fo...

Pic: News24 Distressing news coming out regarding a lost generation of children, victims of the war in Syria. Human Rights Watch has released its report into Syrian refugees in Turkey and finds that as many as 400,000 Syrian children there have no access to education. This is in a context of virtual 100% primary school attendance in Syria pre-civil war and high levels of high school attendance as well as good scores on educational ratings, such as literacy. This is what war does. It may be easy to blame Turkey for this situation. But, this country has taken in around 2 million Syrians fleeing violence and a broken country. Rather than blame Turkey - and blame is not a word we like much here, anyway - maybe we should all look at what are we doing as individuals, and at what are our governments and the international bodies that represent us doing about this. This appears evidence that more needs to be done. It's not about blame, but about finding solutions.* We take a b...

The Kick Project board has now reached agreement with the Rohingya Football Club, Kuala Lumpur, to proceed with the following program.  We are now formally raising funds for the following program, which we aim to begin in January 2016. Phase One: Part 1 Aim 1: Provide full playing kit for the current Rohingya Football Club (RFC) squad. This includes: shirts, shorts, socks, shin-pads, boots, goalkeeper equipment Aim 2: Fund a single playing space for football games. This includes paying fees on a designated municipal football field. Aim 3: Fund Transport. This includes purchasing or leasing a minivan. Part 2 Aim 1: To establish a “Ball Library”. This will be set up as a focal point for the RFC and also for the Rohingya community, with special focus on encouraging access for Rohingya children. Appropriate education initiatives (approved by both RFC representatives and The Kick Project via the Program Management Committee) may be conducted and/or...

Pic: NY Times German second tier team St. Pauli - a team noted for its punk rock fashion and social conscience - have offered 1000 free tickets for the game against Borussia Dortmund for recently arrived refugees...[ read more ].....

Well, the news hounds at The Kick Project have been out of the loop a little lately. But, after a break, Caught Our Eye is back. FIFA Presidential Race Gets Ever Murkier PROGRAM INFO Gaza: One Woman's Plea for Gaza to be Noticed Gaza:Children Forced to Work to Help Broken Families Rohingya in Malaysia: New Book Gives Children's View of Persecution REFUGEES Germany Calls for More EU Intakes as Refugee Influx Balloons-Critics Consider Walls FOOTBALL FOR PEACE US Tournament Brings Young People Together, Including Those from Areas of Conflict

Pic: Vibe Celebrity and Aid US Criticised over Celebrity Aid Visit to Haiti Peace Bitter Enemies Reconcile in Ireland PR US Coal Company Using Ebola Crisis as PR Tool Gaza Project The Children of Gaza Need More than Aid  (Our article for Crikey) Pic: Daily Telegraph Sport and Development The Power of Footy in Fiji Migration Australian Town Shows How Migration Works NGOs Govt Seeks to Punish Greenpeace for Reef Ad Campaign Crackdowns on NGOs Across Asia Are Human Rights NGOs "Too Establishment"?

Here's some of the news that got our attention recently: BORDERS AND PEOPLE: ANOTHER CELEB PITCHES IN TO HELP REFUGEES Pic: wallruru.com CRITIQUE OF ASYLUM SEEKER TREATMENT IN AUSTRALIA SOME SAY EU SHOULD EMULATE AUSTRALIA'S MODEL OTHERS ARGUE EU SHOULD DISMANTLE "VIRTUAL BORDERS" AND MAKE TRAVEL EASIER (COMMENT) Pic: urbantimes.co GAZA PROJECT: GAZA CHILDREN IN CRISIS INTERACTIVE MAP OF THE DESTRUCTION IN GAZA WELFARE OF CHILDREN: BOKO HARAM CAUSING HAVOC FOR CHILDREN SOCCER AND DEVELOPMENT: NEW PORTAL FOR PEACE AND SPORT EVENTS