BY PAV SUY AND JONATHAN GREIG
Monira Men can instantly think back to his time as a homeless child living along the riverside, kicking around cans and makeshift balls with other kids to pass the time and find a slight reprieve from life on the street.
His feet, caked with dust and marked by calluses at the time, have now taken him from the concrete tiles lining the Mekong River to professional football stadiums across the world. He credits that journey to RiverKids, an NGO working to get kids off the street and out of exploitative circumstances, and Happy Football Cambodia (HFCA), which provides football training to disadvantaged kids and runs the national team Cambodia sends to the Homeless World Cup (HWC) each year.
“Homelessness is such a long term issue. I have yet to see a solution and I still don’t know what the government should do,” Men says. “But there are so many foreign organizations helping to reduce the [number of] homeless, so there is hope.”
Paraic Grogan, founder of HFCA and team manager for the Cambodian team attending the HWC in Glasgow this week, came to Cambodia in 2003 after living in Melbourne, Australia. After helping set up a school, he noticed that a number of children living on the street were avid footballers keen on playing more organized games.
He decided to create HFCA in an effort to give homeless kids a safe and collaborative place to play and learn the sport.
By 2008, he applied to have a Cambodian team join the HWC, which strives to deliver a world-class international football tournament for national teams of homeless men and women every year.
Cambodians have been competing at the Homeless World Cup in Glasgow this week, securing 2 wins and 3 losses so far. (Photo: Homeless World Cup)
Working with local partners like HFCA in over 70 countries, the event, which was first held in 2003, has grown into a unique movement aiming to use football to not only help homeless people improve their own lives but spread awareness about the prevalent nature and commonality of homelessness found in almost every country.
“The sense of empowerment that comes from participating in street football helps homeless people see that they can change their lives,” the HWC says on their website. “The experience is transformational for both participants and members of the audience and challenges attitudes towards homelessness. Players represent their country in front of a supportive audience when previously they were alienated from mainstream society.”
HFCA works with four charities in Cambodia and asks them to choose 20-30 kids to send their way for weekly football training.
Up to 100 kids come to professional football stadiums in Phnom Penh on Saturdays to train and play soccer with other kids their age, working with six professional coaches, four of whom are former participants who have graduated out of the program. With funding from Smart, the Credit Bureau of Cambodia and donations from abroad, the program has been able to expand, pay for football shoes and gear, and cover yearly trips to the HWC for a select group of players.
The stability of the weekly program and the structure of the training have worked wonders for many participants, who say they were especially moved by the coaching they received from former members of the program.
Grogan prides himself on the program’s efforts to stay in touch with all of the players who have come through HFCA. After nine years of playing in the HWC, the organization has racked up a deep rolodex of former players willing to come back and help coach or simply provide support for children going through similar things they went through.
“My job is to just provide a platform for young girls and boys to learn about teamwork, staying off drugs and to give them clearly defined pathways,” Grogan says. “When you tell someone ‘if you do this, we can do this. If you work hard, we can get you to the World Cup,’ it helps give them direction.”
“It’s up to them to make the most of these opportunities,” he says.
The HFCA program and HWC now have dozens of success stories from across the world, with some participants, like Men, eventually playing in professional leagues in their home countries.
Cambodians have been competing at the Homeless World Cup in Glasgow this week, securing 2 wins and 3 losses so far. (Photo: HCFA)
Men was taken in by RiverKids as a youngster and went to school there for many years. He was chosen at the time to participate in the weekly football training program run by HFCA, and eventually made it onto the squad Cambodia sent to the 2009 HWC in Milan.
Hailing from Russey Sanke commune in Phnom Penh, the 24-year-old was surprised not by how different Milan was from his hometown, but by how similar the cities were to each other. The ability to see part of the world outside of Cambodia – Men has now traveled to nine countries including Italy, Thailand Vietnam and Lao – has been invaluable to his growth as both a football player and a man.
“There was so much cooperation and teamwork because it was only a few players back then. Everyone was so supportive,” he says. “We lost to Belgium 5-3 that year, but I got to learn so much about how foreigners play and live.”
Men stopped practicing with HFCA in 2013 to pursue his dream: playing professionally in Cambodia. He was first signed by the National Defense squad, but earlier this year transferred to Preah Khan Svay Rieng FC, the 2015 winners of the prestigious Hun Sen Cup, where he earns $200 a month and is able to help support his family.
“HFCA and the Homeless World Cup gave me an opportunity to represent my country in Milan. Being part of the program has changed my life forever,” Men says. “Without this support I wouldn’t be a professional player today and [would be] unable to support my family so I am forever grateful for their encouragement.”
Grogan said Men was one of the program’s stalwarts and represented what can happen when participants take full advantage of the program.
“He’s the best example of what’s possible with this project,” Grogan said. “Monira took the opportunity we gave him and made the most of it.”
Despite its life-changing effect on his career, for Men, the most important part of the program was the idea behind it. Giving those with nothing a chance to learn, make something out of themselves through hard work and acquire lifelong relationships with positive mentors has been invaluable, Men said.
“The World Cup is important,” he says. “Even though it is not the most famous cup in the world and does not have a lot of prize money, it lets homeless people experience the world and see how other people live. It allows us to expand beyond what we know here.”
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27233/from-the-street-to-the-cup/