Hawks unity and social change Basketball campaign
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>View discussions about this entry Country: Uganda
Organization: Gulu Hawks Basketball Club.
Sport: Basketball
Year the initative began (yyyy) 2007
Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence? Use of sports to bring unity and character improvement by promoting sports for a career
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field? my innovation is to bring unity and social harmony and to promote character improvement mainly in northern Uganda that has seen over two decades of armed conflict due to the Lord's Resistance Army(LRA).It would help former child soldiers forget the
'bad memories of the bush",promote unity and help in character building and also help landmine victims have a sport to enjoy. What are the existing barriers, the biggest problem, your innovation is hoping to address/change? Encourage the community to live freely with the returnees and former fighters.To encourage forgiveness, recociliation and support to the returnees and also help those disabled by the war to feel good like anyone else,to make them enjoy a sport.To also encourage sustainable living and also address the problem of HIV/ AIDS
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing? Organise basketball clinics and tournaments for the children and youth,encouraging participation of the returnees,during which issues such as unity,HIV/AIDS,health and conflict are addressed. invole the landmine victims and other disabled persons in wheelchair basketball. Build more facilities in villages and in internally displaced peoples camps .
How do you plan to grow your innovation? To involve the local communities, authorities and the local government while working in partnership with NGO and the international community or donor so that the project is expanded countrywide and made self sustainable.
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact. Promote unity and reconciliation between retunees/ victims of the war and community,reduce the HIV prevalence rate and produce world class sportsmen
What impact has your innovation had to date/or what is your intended impact? Exactly who are the beneficiaries? Promote unity and reconciliation between retunees and community,reduce the HIV prevalence rate and produce world class sportsmen.The former child soldiers, returnees, landmine victims, amputees and the youth in general.
Please list any other measures reflective of the impact of your innovation? Ensure transparency and accountability of the funds used and also positive results
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact? lack of funds and sports facilities.
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)? the local authorities,donors, NGOs(non-govenmental organisations) and the gulu hawks self help projects.
If known, provide information on your finances and organization. This field has not been completed
What is the potential demand for your innovation? The whole community of northern Uganda can benefit from the ,the children and the youth are the main beneficiaries.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability? There could be very little or completely no funding from the NGOs and the local government
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story. Northern Uganda has experienced more than twenty years of war during which there has been abduction ,rape and killing and destruction.The rebels have in the process used child soldiers and forcefully married girls .Now it seems it is ending,with the ongoing peace talks,most of the fighters and abductees have returned.The kids who have returned have been greatly affected,most of them exhibiting violent behavior,some have been rejected by there families and some are descriminated against,most especially in schools.there are also landmine victims and amputees, some of them feel guilty and resort to isolation and since the community ignores and cannot participate in any sports or social activitities.I have always thought about this,I have tried to take a few kids to court with me but many are still out of reach,and the innitiative needs some good funding if it is to produce results.
I visited some rehabilitation centres where some kids are kept for some time.I realised that they do not put much emphasis on sports,there are no sports facilities in some centres. Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material. My name is Daniel Okot,I am nineteen and a first year university student of Electrical Engineering at Makerere University.I play basketball for Gulu Hawks Basketball Club,A team based in the northern town of Gulu,Where I was born and Where I live.
Contact Information:
Daniel Okot
student Gulu Hawks Basketball Club. (Basketball club) Discussions about this entry |
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Hi Daniel,
Thank you for sharing this programme with us on Changemakers. I agree with the other comments that you have done some fantastic work already through you basketball club.
I'm sure you will continue to grow and develop this initiative and build up some more support networks around you. There are a few Changemakers entries that you could tap into, Trevor Dudley is doing some great work with The Kids League also in Kampala and there may be some opportunities for you to develop some projects together in Uganda.
There is also the Motivation Trust that have developed low cost wheelchairs for programs such as yours. Another entry that might interest you is from the Zambian Paralympic Committee who just successfully received a donation of wheelchairs from their local Rotary Club. Maybe you could contact similar organisations for funding or administrative assistance.
In terms of working with former child soldiers I'm interested to know if you have faced any challenges in coaching or developing your basketball programme? Is there a lot of aggression on the court or other strong emotional reactions that impact on the coaches, referees or other players?
Finally, the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE) developed a seminar last year on Sport in Post-Disaster Intervention and they have developed a Handbook designed to help people develop sport programmes for people affected by disaster trauma (either natural disasters or man-made like the civil war in Uganda). A second seminar will take place in Germany and there may be some opportunities for scholarships to attend. Keep an eye on their website for more details www.icsspe.org
All the best!
Jackie Lauff
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
Makere University
Kampala, Uganda
Hey jackie ,thanks for your comment,I will see a way of contacting the people /organisations you have told me about.We have had many challenges in the developing the programmme.One problem that we have is that we have only one basketball court that we(Gulu Hawks) share with the kids,as a result there is very little time to train the kids and time for them to do practice.The disabled persons have their own court at the disabled persons centre ,it is ok for them.
In most cases it is a tough job to convince a disabled person to start playing the game,most especially the landmine survivors.Most of them have a feeling of worthlessness and shame but we try to bring as many as we can to court.
In the beginnig aggression and emotional reactions were common.though still present but at a low level.Team talks before and after the games have help alot.We have just reached a few kids ,the ones who live near by .We would like to reach more in other places ,if we get the resources.
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for your reply. I understand the frustrations of only having limited court time and it means as a coach you become very creating at managing people, space and basketballs!
Convincing people with a disability to play sport seems like a tough job but with a positive attitude you can really work towards overcoming some of the barriers that prevent people trying something new, including sport. As you spread the word in the community, people slowly become more accepting of the idea that people with a disability can actually participate and achieve in sport.
Also, it sounds like a great idea to have team talks before and after your games. Another idea that has been used with people affected by earthquakes, is to have friendship circles after a match and give participants a chance to talk about any issues that they are facing (school, sport, safe sex practices, parents etc) and let the group decide what they what to discuss each time.
I also had another idea that you could get in touch with the development staff at FIBA anf the regional representatives for the African region in terms of advice and support and maybe also some financial assistance to continue to grow your project.
I wish you every success with your basketball and your studies and please let me know if I can assist you with any more information.
All the best,
Jackie
Jackie Lauff
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
Kevin Carroll
Changemakers Featured Commentator
Sport for a Better World Competition
Daniel, one more thought...you should connect with Jeremy Goldberg with Global Youth Partnership for Africa (GYPA) www.gypafrica.org. He is doing some fantastic work in Uganda with the game of football/soccer and I have witnessed his program's success first hand via the Homeless World Cup and Team Gomo Tong. He has a support staff in Uganda that could be a resource for you as well. All the best...
Kevin Carroll
Changemakers Featured Commentator
Sport for a Better World Competition
Daniel, reading your entry & reviewing the responses from others has made realize that you have truly embarked on a BIG and noble venture. I believe that it will be important for you to seek out allies and partnerships from others who are invested in using basketball as a transformational tool. Programs like Hoops4Hope, and sponsors like NBA Cares, and organizations like Nike, along with USA universities that have a rich basketball tradition(North Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky, Duke, etc.) may have interest in doing work with you. They should be contacted and sought after for information and potential support of your effort. Assisting child soldiers in reclaiming their life and becoming good citizens and leading a successful life is quite an undertaking for anyone - let alone someone in university - you are going to need help and help is out there.
I truly want to see your effort be successful and I believe that creating as many strategic partnerships as possible will be the best path for you. Make an effort to tap into the resources available via Ashoka and this competition. you truly are a Changemaker, Daniel! Congratulations and keep pushing your initiative forward...
Jasper Nicolaisen is right, Daniel, in that you've taken on serious and significant work with the Gulu Hawks Basketball Club at a very young age, yourself. Child soldiers are a phenomenon of which we should all be ashamed. If we adults fight and kill one another, at least we've reached an age of consent at which we presumably know what we're doing. To coerce children into taking up our battles, however, is unconscionable. Since we have, in fact, done precisely this, the very least that we owe these young, scarred veterans is some form of transitioning back into mainstream society.
Two other points: Did you mean that the annual budget for the Club is about $5,500.00? Second, I hope that you have fellow university students to help you in your efforts, because the Club seems to be a massive responsibility for one person alone, dedicated though he certainly is.
Steve Byars
Marshall School of Business
University of Southern California
Thanks steve,now I have a number of guys working with me ,the most prominent one being the captain .There are also other club members and my fellow students.
Now about the budget ,let me try to explain.The club was started by a group of guys who love the game,then they were students.We then joined the national league in 2004.Basketball in Uganda is not doin very well,I don't know how FUBA runs the league but there is lack of money.Unlike other teams ,mine comes from far,most of the others are from within Kampala,the capital.There is problem in gettin money for transport for the games to the extent that at times players pull their own money.There is an NGO called ACTION that gives us money for the games,in most cases money enough for transport,for the last seasons we had no sponsors but I think there is one coming next season though I don't know the magnitude of the deal.Frankly on caculating,the money we used in a year is between $5000 and $1000. This is Africa ,not NBA.I 'll tell you more
Hi Daniel,
Your aim to support the young men and woman who have been part of this long and violent war is amazing. The challenges you and these returnees face is real and daunting, and i would like to support your efforts any way we can.
Although H4H is a small organization, we serve over 10,000 children in very challenging situations in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Our peer educators would be happy to share information and ideas so that you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Our curriculum is extremely powerful, especially our 7 Tools 4 Life which could be a necessary stepping stone for your kids to get back into society and give them some recipe to get back on their feet, and it is all correlated to basketball.
Good luck on your meaningful endeavours and please feel free to contact me.
Best,
Mark
Mark Crandall
Hoops 4 Hope, Inc.
hoops4hope@mac.com
ehsc@mac.com
www.hoopsafrica.org
Thanks alot Jasper,the initiative is to bring together both fomer child soldiers and the ones they used to fight against,but for the mean time we shall focus more on the former fighters because they need alot of help,we would also encourage others kids to bring unity and also develop athletes who in future could be world class or may be represent the country or play professional.I see alot of potential in basketball becuase people from the north are tall ,I want these kids to grow in the game .
Hi Daniel,
wow, I admire what you´ve managed to do at only 19 years of age! I think re-uniting those child soldiers with their communities is an important task and sports might very well be important in that. Do you bring together kids who fought as soldiers and those they used to fight against or ist this for the former kid soldiers only?
Jasper Nicolaisen
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
Thanks alot Jasper,the initiative is to bring together both fomer child soldiers and the ones they used to fight against,but for the mean time we shall focus more on the former fighters because they need alot of help,we would also encourage others kids to bring unity and also develop athletes who in future could be world class or may be represent the country or play professional.I see alot of potential in basketball becuase people from the north are tall ,I want these kids to grow in the game .
Makere University Kampala,Uganda.I would like to enter the university challenge.