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Fourteen-year-old Yashoda Chauhan would rarely step out of her home. A growth hormone deficiency, which stunted her growth, kept her indoors, made her reclusive even. Till she found football.
“The sport gave me the confidence to move on and do something on my own,” says the smiling teenager, who lives in the slums at Mumbai’s Cuffe Parade. A football in hand and dreams in her eyes, Yashoda says football has been a life altering experience. Yashoda is now a part of the girl’s football team of OSCAR Foundation, and looks forward eagerly to Saturday evenings for a game.
At many a Mumbai slum, football has changed the lives of, and brought hope to, children. And, football is no longer a male sport. Wearing colourful jerseys printed with the logo “OSCAR — Education with a Kick,” 25 girls like Yashoda practice every Saturday at the Oval Maidan in South Mumbai.
For the girls, Ashok Rathod is the hero. Ashok started OSCAR (Organisation for Social Change, Awareness and Responsibility) Foundation in 2006 to help school dropouts from the Cuffe Parade slums complete their education and learn life lessons through football.
Going places
It took him five years to persuade the slum families to send their girls to be a part of OSCAR’s football team. “Parents had many reservations about sending their daughters to play football that was seen as a man’s sport,” Ashok said.
The questions Ashok had to tackle were usually “Why do girls need to play?”, “Who will do the household work?”, “Will they play with boys?” But his persistence worked. Soon, perceptions changed. And, what started as a Sunday morning game of informal football in 2011 with 10 girls, gradually shaped up into a team of 25 bubbly girls. This team even went on to make it to the semi-finals of the National Girl’s Slum Soccer Tournament in Nagpur last year. More to boot, two of the girls were selected to represent India at the Homeless Soccer World Cup in Mexico, also last year.
“The football ground is their classroom. Through soccer, we impart important life skills to the girls such as self-defence, empowerment, communication skills, and build self-confidence,” Ashok added.
OSCAR Foundation has partnered with other NGOs in the Naxal-affected areas of Koraput in Odisha to start similar programmes for the youth. At Odisha, some 30 girls from the lower strata of the society are part of the football team. Similarly, at Haliyal, in Karnataka, OSCAR’s team has 30 girls and in Goa, 40.
So far, 600 boys are a part of OSCAR Foundation, which has a presence in Bihar, Odisha, Goa and Karnataka. This year, the Foundation was recognised by the world’s largest football association FIFA that also gave OSCAR Rs 5.5 lakh.
nivedita.ganguly@thehindu.co.in
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