From the streets to a World Cup in Qatar

The Bangladesh Street child football team players all smiles with coach Nazma Akhter (L)Khaled Sarkar

Ety Akhter didn’t have a place to call home. She used to live on the footpaths of the Hazrat Shahjalal International airport area. Gradually she got addicted to drugs and involved with petty crimes. That same teenage girl has completely turned around her life and is dreaming of becoming a footballer.

Ety will play for Bangladesh in the Street Child World Cup in Qatar, set to take place on 8-15 October. 28 teams from 24 countries will take part in this edition of the Street Child World Cup. The Bangladeshi girls will leave Dhaka on 6 October to take part in the tournament.

Coach Nazma Akhter and captain Jasmine Akhter speak in a press-conference before the team left for Qatar
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Along with Ety, Jasmine Akhter, Jannatul Ferdous, Hamida Akhter, Shathi Akhter, Mim Akhter, Afrin Khatun, Fairuz Abida, Tania Akhter and Tahmina Akhter will also play in the Bangladesh team. The Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar will host the World Cup.

Every girl of the Bangladesh street child team has lived a life of hardship. They want to forget their bleak past and light up their future with football. There was a time when one of them could be found at the Kamalapur Railway Station in an addicted state. Many of them had to endure different kinds of abuse. But now, all of them are dreaming of a beautiful future.

Young booter Hamida said, “We will play at the same ground where Messi, Ronaldo will play, I can hardly believe it!”

A member of this team comes from Phulbari upazila in Kurigram. Her parents are no more. Her maternal grandmother was raising her. She came to Dhaka with a few people who allured her with the promises of an opportunity to act in movies. But that turned out to be a hoax.

She was rescued by LEEDO (Local Education and Economic Development Organisation), a Bangladeshi organisation to aid street children.

The players were thrilled to enter the Bangabandhu National Stadium
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Another member of the team was rescued from Dhaka’s Bangshal when she was mentally unstable. Now, she too is an aspiring footballer.

A domestic worker, who was roaming around at the streets of Kamalapur after escaping from her employer’s home where she was tortured, was rescued by LEEDO and was brought to their ‘Peace Home’ in Dhaka’s Washpur.

LEEDO brings children who have no shelter, no food security, forget medical facilities to its ‘Peace Home’ and tries to find their families. If they fail to find the family of a child, they send the child to a government organisation for long-term rehabilitation.

An adolescent girl, who has no idea who her parents are, used to sell bottled water at the Kamalapur Railway Station. She was also taken to the ‘Peace Home’.

Both of these girls will now play for the Bangladesh team in Qatar.

Out of the thousands of street children in Dhaka, LEEDO has selected 10 players for the World Cup. Before that, they had to send information about these girls to the international street child organisation in England. After they verified the information, they were selected to go to Qatar.

LEEDO founder and managing director Forhad Hossain had the plan to take the street children to the World Cup.

Even though they contacted the organisers through the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), there were doubts whether they would get to take part in the World Cup. As many of them don’t know their parents’ identities, complications arose while making their passports.

Forhad is relieved that after a lot of efforts, they have managed to board the players in a Qatar-bound flight.

“We had to overcome many challenges to reach this far. KFC is providing us with jerseys, US-Bangla is providing air tickets. Similarly, many organisations have extended their helping hand. We are happy to have brought smiles to the girls faces,” Forhad said in a press conference at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Monday.

*This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ashfaq-Ul-Alam Niloy