Changing Lives FC has lived up to the promise of its name, offering much-needed support to refugees and migrants
very one of these boys has a story,” says Fethi Ahmed as he looks across the parched playing surface of a recreation ground in Harlow. “But for two hours on a Thursday they can forget everything, whatever their difficulties. They count down the days to this. Everyone here knows they have football to keep them going.”
There are about 25 players on the grass and Ahmed counts 10 nationalities: Syrians, Ghanaians, Sudanese, Chadians. “Five or six don’t speak English yet,” he says. “But that’s the role of football, it’s the common language.” “I believe we’re a good team,” Simmons says. “Some of these boys are talented enough to go all the way and become professional. What a story that would be. We try to strike a balance where we have fun as well as wanting them to learn. Enjoyment is important but another aspect of football is the discipline it brings.
Badawi, who arrived via Calais underneath a lorry, works part-time at Ikea and will receive his HGV licence in around four months if his driving course goes well. While Ahmed and Badawi speak warmly of the reception they received in England and the lives they have been able to build, there is a sense they have thrived despite the system. Ahmed left home at 16 after being detained for six months in a local police station after the imprisonment of his father, who was an opponent of the government. He describes crossing the Mediterranean in a fishing boat crammed with about 600 people under the burning sun.
Ahmed works in a B&Q store and also with Simmons in his wider Changing Lives community organisation. He expects to be able to apply for a mortgage next year. “Some people think we come here to take public funds but it’s just not like that,” he says. “I work, I pay tax, I pay road tax on my car, it’s the same as everyone else. I’m just getting the same chances as other people now. It’s the same with these boys on the pitch: look at them, they aren’t causing issues with anyone.
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