W. Equatoria governor calls for strengthening of youth and sports activities

July 27, 2011 (YAMBIO) – The governor of Western Equatoria State Bangasi Joseph Bakosoro has called for the strengthening of youth and sports activities in the state.

On Wednesday July 27th 2011, the state government organised a welcoming party for the Western Equatoria Girls’ Team that won the second position in all African Young women Christian Association tournament in Mushi Tanzania where they were defeated two goals to nil by Kenya in the final.

Addressing the gathering at the state secretariat in the evening, governor Bakosoro hailed the tremendous performance of the girl’s team that represented South Sudan despite the “bias” of the referee who was also from Kenya.”

“It is an achievement for the state in the new born Republic of South Sudan,” he said.

Bakosoro encouraged the girls to refrain from early marriages that will reduce their performance now that the independence is already achieved with more sports activities to kick off.

He stated that the aim of forming the ministry of youth and sports is to energise youth activities in the state that will keep them busy from engaging in criminal activities.

“I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) in the state for promoting youth activities and all the coaches that trained the girls.”

Bakosoro urged the state ministry of youth and sports to reserve some funds to promote youth activities.

Nine countries that are Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Mozambique, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Burundi, and South Sudan represented by Western Equatoria State participated in the regional tournament.

The state minister of youth and sports Felix Sunday Khamis said that this result marks the beginning of strong sports in the newly born Republic of South Sudan.

In May Western Equatoria state participated in the Sudan football competition in Juba and were knocked out by Kator football club in the semi final.

Sunday called upon all the levels of government in the state and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to support youth and sports activities in the state in order to boost the morale of the youth.

The Director General (DG) of the state ministry of Youth and Sports James Marboto Katas lauded the state government for the establishment of the ministry of youth and sports.

The State ministry of youth and sports was established in June 2010 tasked to oversee the promotion of youth and sports activities in the state.

Katas added that the ministry is committed to developing sport policy framework to introduce new sports activities.

Youth, defined in South Sudan as 17-40 years old, constituted about 72 percent of the population of the state according to a 2010 population census.

The DG added that the youth have great roles to play to serve the economy, creating jobs, growing food, adding that the young people can be relied upon.

Katas stated that the youth lacks lifelong skill trainings in various areas, resources centers, associations’ employment policy, education, poverty reduction programs, HIV AIDS awareness programs amongst others

“We shall not only focus on the results of being the second in the all east African YWCA tournament in Mushi Tanzania,” he said.

He further said the results of being second among the nine countries that participated in the tournament gives impression that the team will win the next tournament.

The YWCA Executive Director of Sudan Sudan, in Western Equatoria Modi Enosa Mbarazat hailed the success of the girls’ team in the competition in spite of “biasness of the referees.”

YWCA was initiated by dedicated women in Yambio in 1997 during the war and is a non-government and nonprofit making organization that strives to uplift the living conditions of women and girls and young men in the community in order for them to live a fulfilled lives. It embraces people regardless of their religious denomination and ethnicity.

She noted that it was too much for the team to manage at the final because each day the girls were playing twice, in the morning and evening, and at the end most of [our] strong players had suffered minor injuries and could not perform well at the final.

“I would like to tell you that the girls’ team herein Western Equatoria must be supported highly in addition to the talents they already have, because they can build the national team of South Sudan, if they can come from scratch at play at international level and go up to final then if they are trained well they can maybe play with Man U or Arsenal,” decried Modi.

She thanked the state government for facilitating the girls team in terms of financial supports to reach Tanzania

Modi said they had many challenges on their way to Tanzania. Transport was expensive, vaccination for yellow fever cost a lot and were not budgeted for and first aid for the team was another challenge.

“We have been requested to bring the football team again next year for the East African Cup and needs early preparation this time we will need at least two teams of boys and girls under 16 under 13 boys or under 25 boys,” said Modi.

She appealed to the parents and guardians of the girls to let them help in releasing their girls for training, and also to the girls to manage the talents they have and avoid getting pregnant before marriage.

Western Equatoria girls were the champions of the 5th Anniversary of the CPA held in Yambio in Jan 2010, and the champions of the all school girls’ competition in Juba early last year.

(ST)