Photography above; Ayşe Nur Gençalp - Save the Children Türkiye

Save the Children is happy to announce the implementation of the project ‘Pitches of Hope’ that is launched in collaboration with Mastercard and UEFA Foundation. The project will be until the end of the year, where Save the Children Türkiye will rehabilitate and build three football pitches across some of the worst earthquake-affected areas of Hatay, Gaziantep and Adıyaman. These pitches will be located close to temporary settlements and areas where regular activities are conducted for children and their families.

Save the Children Türkiye, through our team of expert child psychologists, have designed tailored activities that aims to build a sense of community for children as well as boost their mental and physical wellbeing to support their healing process after this devastating experience.

The most important notion in the recovery process of a child that has experienced trauma is routine and a sense of normalcy. The earthquake has taken that away from them. They have lost everything that is familiar to them.

More than four months after the earthquakes destroyed the homes and lives of children and their families across the 11 provinces of Türkiye, 9.1 million people in need of humanitarian assistance of which 2.5 million are children. In some of the most affected provinces children are struggling to piece their lives back together, where some are still living in makeshift tents and unable to go to school.

Save the Children is an international NGO that was established more than 100 years ago and is currently working in 120 countries, to ensure that every child grows up healthy, safe and educated – playing, learning and looking forward to a future filled with joy and hope.

In Türkiye, Save the Children has been working since 2013 to provide education and psychosocial support to children while providing livelihood activities for their families. Prior to the earthquake, we were working in Istanbul and Hatay, however, we have been expanding our operations to include support the affected communities in Gaziantep, Adıyaman and Kahramanmaraş provinces.

Our response activities have been tailored from the expertise that we have gained working across some of the worst crises of the modern world over the last century. Our expertise comes from working previously in the region while also gained from other devastating earthquakes in countries such as Nepal and Haiti.

Currently, Save the Children Türkiye is supporting the earthquake-affected communities since the very early onset of the crisis by providing essential items such as food, clothing, education, shelter and hygiene kits, rehabilitating school, building latrines and wash facilities but most important we are providing psychosocial support to build their resilience and bring a sense of normalcy into their lives.

Football is a sport that strengthens peer-to-peer communication and builds solidarity. It is a game that has rules. For children who have been affected by the earthquake, it is a sport that they all know and a game that brings children from across different ages together. Therefore, football is a great tool to build routine in children's lives while bringing back their sense of community.

When talking about the importance of football, a member of the Save the Children Türkiye Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) team currently working across some of the most hard-to-reach areas and rural villages of Hatay stated the following:

‘I was recently speaking to an adolescent boy around the age of 15 whose name is Ali*. He lost his father during the earthquake. Ali stated that during the early days, he didn’t even want to leave his tent. Prior to the earthquake, with many of his peers, he would play football religiously. As the earthquake resulted in major loss, he also lost his football. However, the village imam supported them in finding a ball that they could use.

With many of his peers displaced, Ali now only has a group of four friends to play football with. They conduct regular football matches two against two in the only safe space left for children to play - which is the village football pitch.

When I asked Ali the kind activities he wanted to participate in during the psychosocial support sessions that Save the Children is providing, the young boy replied:

‘’We are not interested in circus or clown shows but rather football. Football allows me to forget about the earthquake and dims the pain inside of me. Kicking the ball makes me feel better. When I am playing football with my friends and we win, I am happy again.’’

Through the partnership Save the Children Türkiye has embarked on with Mastercard for ‘Pitches of Hope’, we aim to build safe spaces for children like Ali to support their recovery process by bringing back joy and hope into their lives.