‘Play for Peace’ initiative targets youth in Rwanda

This is the underlying principle in Erin Bresnahan’s ‘Play for Peace’ program that saw her travel to Rwanda with the intention of using sports as a medium to teach life skills to help less fortunate youth overcome poverty.

Arriving in mid-May with two duffel bags stuffed with soccer gear and frisbees, Bresnahan spent the next month and a half teaching games to local children and educators, always with the goal of building sustainable habits that would continue after her departure. “Part of the program was to teach kids things like working together, tolerance and gender equality but the other part was to train the teachers on how to transmit those skills,” Bresnahan explained.

Working in conjunction with Kageno, a non-profit organization with operations in Kenya and Rwanda, she was asked to devise a program and shortly thereafter found herself on site administering it to over 1000 students.

When she arrived in Rwanda physical education was not part of the school curriculum at all. Nearly a month after her return she has been in touch with the community and is happy to report that the kids continue to make use of the equipment that she brought over.

Bresnahan is quick to highlight the support and donations that she received from several local organizations and businesses during her collection drive, including the Lac St. Louis, Lakeshore and Pierrefonds soccer associations as well as DiSalvo Sports (in the Catalogna Sportsplex) and Sports Études.

Additionally, she was aided along by many volunteers who took interest in her cause. Nadine Myers, a Beaconsfield resident and mother of two teenage boys, provides a perfect example of how the average citizen can get involved with community-building projects such as ‘Play for Peace.’ She began by donating old equipment and uniforms that her two sons had accrued and also helped by sending out a few emails and mobilizing some larger organizations. “My son wears #13 and when I saw the kids wearing his jersey in the photographs it really hit me,” Myers shared with the Chronicle. “My son was wearing it last year and now it belongs to someone who will really appreciate it for years to come.”

For Bresnahan, the trip had the effect of reinforcing her decision to shift the direction of her life, embodied by her pursuit of a Masters degree in International Development at Carleton University, where she will graduate after the fall semester. “For me to work in this field I have to know what it’s like, I can’t just sit at a desk and solve the world’s problems. I really believe in the power of sport and the success of the trip definitely helped affirm my beliefs and goals for the future.” For more information about Kageno and their efforts in Kenya and Rwanda please visit www.kageno.org.