Top scorer Ali is product of successful integration

Twenty-year-old asylum seeker Ali of Ghana won the top scorer award in a futsal tournament organised by the St Joseph Band Club of Ħamrun played at the Victor Tedesco Stadium, also in Ħamrun.

He scored 12 goals throughout the tournament in which 14 teams, divided in two groups, took part.

Futsal is a five-player game with rules that are also very similar to football.

By joining the futsal team called the Red Army, Ali, a resident at the Peace Lab of Ħal Far, integrated well by successfully teaming up with Maltese youths in the squad, Peace Lab director Fr Dionysius Mintoff said.

The Red Army team finished second in the group, behind a team called Naughty Boys.

Following a detention period after having arrived in Malta, Ali was welcomed at the John XXIII Peace Lab where he is housed with other youths from different African countries.

Fr Mintoff said the goal of the Lab is not merely to provide a dwelling for such youths but also to help them integrate into society, open them to Maltese society and open Maltese society to them.

Fr Mintoff said Ali stands as a role model for the successful integration of youths with an African background. He epitomises the Peace Lab's beliefs that society ought to offer an opportunity to these youths and these youths ought to give something back to society. His success with the Red Army illustrates this: The team gave Ali the opportunity to play and he greatly helped the team achieve its objective through his goals.

Fr Mintoff said Ali's achievement also illustrates the successful practical efforts which the Peace Lab makes, like holding language classes run by voluntary teachers and providing a physical instructor. These point the way forward to our society in its dealings with immigrants and asylum seekers, Fr Mintoff said.

Ali's surname is not being published to protect his identity.