The remote village of Damerjog in Djibouti was the setting of a football festival that enticed scores of enthusiastic children earlier this month.
Malta may be geographically far from the African country but most of the exciting youngsters taking part in this unusual event sported shirts bearing the Malta FA logo.
The Maltese football association is among the organisations that have endorsed Stop War Play Football, an international mission under which football equipment, namely shirts, balls and goalposts, is dispatched to war-torn countries to encourage youths, especially child soldiers, to lay down their weapons and play the Beautiful Game.
The United Nations estimates that some 300,000 children are involved in more than 30 conflicts worldwide today.
The children of Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia, were the first recipients of football equipment donated by the partners of the Stop War Play Football initiative last July.
The second stage was held in Djibouti on November 17.
The project was launched earlier this year by Mauro Di Lello, who has close ties with Maltese football, and his friend Claudio Del Gusto, the CEO of social network site Tascout which focuses on the promotion of youth talent worldwide.
The Malta FA heeded Di Lello’s proposal to take up a prominent role in this project by donating football apparel under the association’s Football for Life programme.
“Through this important initiative, we want to reach those places where children can’t play football because they are involved in armed conflicts,” Italian Di Lello told Times of Malta.
“Thanks to the Military Corps of the Order of Malta and the United Nations peacekeepers, it is possible, through humanitarian missions, to reach zones that are almost impossible to access due to the life risks posed by ongoing conflicts.
“Stop War Play Football aims to convey a message of solidarity and peace in those regions where, even today, children are robbed of their childhood and the opportunity to enjoy football in its purest form.
“What we are trying to do through this project is to foster an atmosphere that is completely detached from the grim reality these children are living in, providing them with moments of fun and rekindling their dreams of emulating the game’s greatest stars when they grow up.
“This is not an easy commitment but, from our side, there is the determination and willingness to bring this project to fruition.
“To this end, I want to thank all the entities that are backing our efforts,” Di Lello added.
The objectives of the Stop War Play Football initiative are in sync with those of the MFA’s Football Social Responsibility programme, created last year by Norman Darmanin Demajo, the association’s president.
Darmanin Demajo, who vigorously promotes charity through football, is also a member of the board of trustees of the recently-launched UEFA Foundation for Children.
Apart from the Malta FA, Stop War Play Football is also endorsed by Malta President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca and the Military Corps of the Order of Malta.