The ball is for everyone

Eduardo is ten years old and lives in a shack alone with his mother in a small village in Venezuela. The two are refugees from Colombia who crossed the border after Eduardo’s father disappeared. His mother cries a lot and Eduardo’s days are a bit lonely. He loves football, but hasn’t had much time to make friends with the neighborhood kids - most of whom are Colombians too. "I need to stay at home for my mother," he explains, "she has no one else around here and it is hard for her to be alone".

With the ninemillion.org campaign, UNHCR and Nike have joined forces to bring some joy into the lives of children like Eduardo all around the world. Nike has donated some 40,000 balls - almost 5,000 for Latin America alone - which local UNHCR teams are now distributing in places like El Nula.

Eduardo’s eyes lit up when he is given the green and yellow football during an impromptu ceremony that gathers the children of the predominantly Colombian neighborhood. He undertakes to take good care of the ball and immediately organizes the children into two teams to start a game. "Yes the girls can play too," he insists in the face of strong opposition from some other boys, "the ball is for everyone". In the end everyone who wants to play is included. It all gets a bit messy before long - some of the smallest kids can’t remember which team they are on - but at least the children are playing, which is exactly what ninemillion.org is about.