Indian excursion planned to help impoverished kids

19/11/2008

A school, a football team and the council are teaming up to make a difference to children’s lives in India.

Oasis Academy Wintringham, in partnership with Grimsby Town Football Club (GTFC) and North East Lincolnshire Council, are heading to India to improve the education in the country’s impoverished regions.

Daniel Scott, the Academy’s learning director for sport, Anne Boyers, the studies support teacher at GTFC, and Adam Smith, the club’s school of excellence co-ordinator, are going to Chennai.

Academy principal Jane Bowman said:

“I visited Chennai recently to see some of the work done in India by Oasis.
A lot of the children we work with are dealing with issues such as HIV or homelessness. Because of these difficult issues, drugs and alcohol abuse are also common.
Against such a backdrop, football and other sports, like cricket, are a great way to motivate young people there. Some of them will walk five kilometres at 6am to have a game of football before going to school. The young people we work with are aged between 14 and 17.
After this visit, we hope to send some of our children there next summer.”

Anne said some of the children in Chennai may well be up and ready for a game when they arrive:

“With the help of Samskip, GTFC have sent over a number of last season’s football kits to them.
We have also begun to work with another company over there who make shoes. They have pledged to help children in impoverished circumstances, and are happy to work with us. As a coincidence, they are also called GTFC."

Adam Smith, from Grimsby Town’s School Of Excellence, said:

“At first we will be looking at what they already have in terms of community clubs and facilities. Then we will coach the coaches, and look at ways we can create more structure and build schemes which use football to bring kids to school.”

Anne added:

“We will be presenting our findings to children here when we return.
I am sure there will be a lot they will be able to learn from this about children living in the poorer areas of India.”

Kay Snape, head of extended services at the council, added:

“This is an excellent example of how the three of us can work together and make a real difference to people’s lives, both close to home, and many miles away.”
 

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