JICA, Bright Stars spread hope in Pagirinya camp

Bayern Munich and Canadian footballer Alphonso Davies’ journey to becoming one of the best players in the world started somewhere in Buduburam, a Ghanaian refugee camp. Along with his parents, he had fled a civil war in Liberia.

There are about 200 refugee children in Pagirinya Refugee Settlement Camp, Adjumani District chasing the same dream after being forced out of South Sudan. 

Gloria Mandera, a 16 year old girl and Godwill Kute , 17, are some of them. “I hope football can take me places and give me a better life out there,” Mandera told Daily Monitor after attending a football clinic organised by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Solito Bright Stars FC, a Uganda Premier League side at Tandala Primary School.

Special feeling

Bright Star players Alfred Onek , Methodius Jungu and  Emmanuel Were, helped by coach Tsuchiya Masato, took the group through a number of drills on May 28 on a murram pitch with a few scattered patches of grass. 

“It is my pleasure to help nurture kids. We have come to give them hope. Many footballers come from nowhere. 

“I’m glad to tell you we have spotted some talented kids here and they need all the support,” said Bright Stars goalkeeper Were. 

JICA Uganda  boss Uchiyama Takayuki pledged more support for the underprivileged girls and boys who hardly had any gear on.

More exposure

“We shall take some of the girls for more exposure through a tournament in Jinja in August. 

Sport is rewarding and through it, you discover the importance of working hard,taking care of yourself, and show talent,” he said at the event that had Titus Jogo from the office of the prime minister, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’s Joel Obeta and Richard Anzo Makpwe, the president of the Pagirinya Refugee Football Association all present.