Sahara football club

In 2005 we became involved with Sahara football club and their street kids academy. Sahara is unique amongst football clubs, running many community and social projects, by far the biggest undertaking is the academy.

There have always been street kids in Nepal but during the Maoist uprising there was a dramatic increase in the numbers of street kids, most of them orphaned during village raids. Once on the streets children quickly become acclimatised to the lack of discipline and freedom so they find it very difficult to leave, often they will turn up at shelters when they are hungry only to leave again as soon as they have eaten. The one thing most of the boys like to do when not scavenging is play football, so it’s logical that through football they can be taught about rules and discipline. Regular training is also the incentive for the boys to settle down and go back to school.

Sahara can accommodate 20 boys, who all receive food, lodging, full-time education and daily football training. The facilities are very basic consisting of just a dormitory, a common room and a toilet with a kitchen in a separate building. Since raising the money to buy some land Sahara is now trying to raise the money to build a permanent orphanage with much improved facilities and to be able to accommodate more boys.

The aim is to continue support for the boys until they have finished school. After that it is hoped that some of the boys will take up contracts with professional clubs, whilst others will go on to apprenticeships, college or university.

The whole project is run by volunteers and funded by the club and the local community with little outside help. For the past 5 years we have been helping to sponsor the boys, by providing funding for fresh fruit every day along with other ad-hoc things such as clothing. We plan to help Sahara further by helping to raise the funds for the new orphanage