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Rotterdam winner of the HIRDA’s fifth Amsterdam Futsal Tournament
AMSTERDAM- The Amsterdam Futsal Tournament (AFT) was held on the 26 and 27 2009 in Sporthallen Zuid in Amsterdam -Zuid. The yearly event initiated and organized by HIRDA to increase the participation of youth in sports en development work. The tournament was an exciting one whereby 16 teams from Holland and abroad fought for the championship. Eventually the Rotterdam team succeeded to win the cup, followed by number two team Vlaardingen and debutant Reeuwijck. Top player of the tournament Warsame Dahir Arey (24- years old) of the Rotterdam team; ‘ the only reason I could have played that good was because of my team who gave me confidence!’
HIRDA strives to empower the Somali youngsters in Holland by organizing the yearly AFT whereby it aims to; transfer the importance of sport to the youth, activate youngsters to create a domino effect to other (migrant) youngsters in engaging in sports, make exercise a routine in the live of youth, expand the network of Somali youth and enlarge knowledge exchange/transfer. Which all leads to an increasement of participation of Somali youngsters in the Dutch society and thus increasing their chances here and decrease social isolation.
Involvement of youth That is the reason that before every match a debate is organized by HIRDA where the youth discusses about current matter on the Somali community in the Netherlands. This year the topic was about the future of the Amsterdam Futsal Tournament, the impact of sports in society, and the integration of the Somali community in the Netherlands. With the latter matter the yearly report on integration (research done by the Social Plan office ) of migrants in the Netherlands was discussed which shows alarming results concerning the Somali community.
Report of Social Cultural Planning office The report which was published end December 2009 shows that the Somali group receives the highest social welfare compared to other migrant groups in the Netherlands. More than 1/3 Somali/Dutch between the age of 15-65 years receives welfare. The difference between other migrant groups is that the percentage of welfare dependence of Somali group did not decline in the past ten years. The reports also show that Somali youngsters are not performing well in schools compared with other migrants groups and the criminalities of the young Somalis is high.
Alarming matter Somali community perform low on education, integration and employment The finding of the report is an alarming matter for Somali community in the Netherland and HIRDA wanted to start discussing about it during the event. Therefore the conclusions of the report were included in the debates to see the reaction of the participants. The young Somalis were shocked of the finding like top player Arey; ‘It is good that we are discussing about this, because it is good to inform people and share views with each other but we need to take actions afterwards! I think Somali youngsters should have to choose their higher education, now the parents decide what the child should study and ignore the interest and desires of the child. I think that has to be changed!’
Strong connection Director of the organization HIRDA Fatumo M. Farah; ‘ The Somali youth live between two cultures which is challenging and we need awareness of the parents. Also the problems in the home country has a great impact on the Somali community because of the strong connection between Somali in the West and in Somalia. Therefore we organize the sports events and debates about the issues concerning the home country and the host country; to create awareness and a platform for the Somali community!’
For more information: www.hirda.org FaceBook: Hirda Netherlands Twitter: HIRDA FOUNDATION Integration report 2009 of Sociaal Cultureel Planbureau : http://www.scp.nl/Publicaties/Alle_publicaties/Publicaties_2009/Jaarrapport_integratie_2009
