“They said that they would provide food and shelter, and so I went with them,” Lama gives off a childish laughter.[break]
For the next eight years, Lama would not only grow up at the Home but also learn to play football. He would go on to join the U-14 All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) team. Eventually, he received a football scholarship at Rhododendron International Boarding School (RIBS) from where he would complete his SLC.
After playing for the Jawalakhel Youth Club (JYC) for two years, the now-22-year-old Lama has become the right-back for the A-Division football team, Friends Club of Kupondole, in Lalitpur.
“I can’t stay without playing football for more than three to four days,” Lama reveals his passion for the game. “I have scholarships to further my studies, but I don’t like studying,” he shares candidly. Lama is not sure of his future in football but he definitely sounds happy to be where he is today.
His passion and talents aside, none of this, however, would have been possible without the initiative of Garuda Association, a non-profitable association for the promotion of sports for underprivileged children in Nepal.
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“Although we officially registered as Garuda Sports Club (GSC) in 2003, we had been running it unofficially since 1999 under the Garuda Association (GA), which is based in France,” informs president of GSC, Anurodh Rana, adding that GSC keeps a low profile, which is why many haven’t heard of them.
GA in France, headed by President Catherine Leprince, is the main sponsor of GSC in Nepal.
“Our Club patron, Jerome Edou, is a former football player and he used to coach students at Lincoln School [of Kathmandu] as well,” says Rana and furthers, “The idea to fund football as a sport for underprivileged children began when Jerome and some of us met Catherine.”
The main goal of the initiative is to provide children from shelters, orphanages and children’s homes, as well as street children, an opportunity to play a sport – football, in this case.
“There are numerous children’s homes in Kathmandu which provide food, education and shelter to kids, but lack in playgrounds,” Rana emphasizes the importance of recreation for children.
GSC approached different schools for support and began conducting free football training sessions every Saturday and Sunday from 7 to 10 am.
“While Lincoln School and St Xavier’s School in Godavari provide their grounds for free, we hire the Jawalakhel ground every year,” informs the president.
Funds raised by GA in France go to book grounds, salaries for coaches, provide proper football equipment and clothes to the children and to host an annual tournament titled Garuda Cup.
“The Garuda Cup is a one-day event where teams from different homes compete against each other,” says Rana as he shows some photographs from the 10th Garuda Cup held in October 2009.
Apart from GA, another supporter of GSC is Base Camp Trekking & Expedition, which is headed by Director Edou.
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Currently, over a dozen homes, with nearly 300 children – both girls and boys – aged eight and above, participate in GSC’s weekly training sessions.
It was on the Jawalakhel grounds where Krishna Lama had trained as a teenager. And one of his coaches was Kamal Lama, who began as a volunteer coach at the age of 17.
“It’s a fundamental right of a child to play,” asserts Kamal, who works fulltime at Terres des Hommes, an INGO focused on child rights. For the past ten years, he has been contributing six hours each week to GSC and remains dedicated to the cause.
“Many street children are involved in substance abuse, from glue sniffing to smoking cigarettes,” he shares and elaborates with pride, “But when they start playing football, they realize the importance of being physically fit, and many end up giving up their bad habits.”
According to a recent research conducted by Kamal, street children will choose football over education any day, and therefore, football has become “a medium to attract them.”
Krishna Kumar Thapa, the director of Voice of Children (VOC), adds along the same lines.
“Street children have difficulties adjusting to homes because they are free to do whatever they want in the streets. Many of them have a history of negligence and violence and have problems concentrating.”
The man with 16 years of experience in the field of child welfare says, “But because football is a game with rules and regulations and requires a team effort, the game teaches the children exactly that – to be disciplined.”
Each week, around 20 children, aged 10-18, from VOC attend GSC trainings on a regular basis. The kids also take part in the Garuda Cup every year. Street children under VOC come from all over the country, but a majority of them are from Dhading, Nuwakot, Kavrepalanchowk and Sindhupalchowk.
Other participating homes include St. Xavier’s Social Club, Sath Sath, Saathi, Shangrila Children Home, Panauti Children Home, and Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN). For the past four years, GSC has also been participating in national C-Division leagues.
“We don’t have plans to expand our club because our focus is on providing a platform for potential players rather than commercial growth,” verifies President Rana about the future plans of GSC.
“The talents of these children are amazing because they play their hearts out and have no fear. And our sole aim is to let them play,” highlights Rana.
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