Meet the team from the children’s home Karunalaya, who are gearing up for the Street Child World Cup (SCWC) 2014 in Rio de Janeiro scheduled from March 27.
This is the first time many young people in the team Karunalaya, a recognition of this sort is coming into their lives.
For the runaway street children who have been rescued by the Chennai based NGO Karunalaya’s street educators, this is a wonderful experience.
Karunalaya working out of Tondiarpet works for child rights and puts the lives of the children left to streets due to various reasons like runaway from family because of unconformable surroundings, disowned and orphaned and train them to live a happy life.
The team, under the sponsorship of Bharti Airtel, is working hard for the last six months in Chennai, under special coaches. India is the current defending champions.
Organised a few months ahead of the FIFA World Cup, the Street Child World Cup (SCWC) will unite street children from across four continents from 19 countries including Brazil, Burundi, South Africa, Kenya, Liberia, Tanzania, Egypt, Mauritius, El Salvador, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan, USA, Nicaragua, Argentina England and India.
This is the second edition of the World Cup after the maiden series in 2010 which was won by India. 15 teams of boys aged 14-16 years will compete against each other for the World Championship title over a period of 10 days playing 30 minute matches on 7-a-side football pitches.
The Airtel-Karunalaya Team India for Street Child World Cup, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was launched on March 1, 2014 at Chettiar Hall, Don Bosco Youth Centre, Broadway.
The team members were welcomed and introduced by Hon. Justice S. Manikumar, Judge, High Court of Madras who was the chief guest at the function.
Mrs. Saraswathy Rangaswamy, Chairperson, Tamil Nadu Commission for the Protection of Child Rights was the Special Guest, Mr. Vikash Singh, CEO, Bharti Airtel, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Mrs. P. Kaliammal, Joint Director, State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, Rev. Fr. N. Gerard, Rector, Don Bosco Wisdom Town and Patron, Karunalaya, Rev. Fr. Joseph Berchmans Fernando, Rector, Don Bosco Youth Centre Broadway, Mr. B. Ravikumar David, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu Football Association, Mr. S. John Bosco, President, Karunalaya and Dr. N. Paul Sunder Singh, Secretary, Karunalaya were present.
Organised by UK-based Street Child United (SCU), the Street Child World Cup (SCWC) is a global campaign for the rights of street children.
Through football, art and a unique international street child conference, its aim is to provide a platform for street children to be heard, to challenge negative stereotypes of street children and to promote the rights of street children around the world. Apart from the soccer matches, several fun activities and sports and cultural events will also be organised for the children during the World Cup event days.
Karunalaya is at No. 108, Seniamman Koil Street, Tondiarpet. Phone : 25911214, 25916574, 25916575
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