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Akanksha Shelare, a 19 year-old girl from Bokhara in Nagpur district, has spent her childhood in extreme poverty. Battling beatings from an alcoholic father, eventually witnessing her father's addiction-ridden demise, and supporting three sisters in a town engulfed in patriarchal mindset. Today, she has the chance to go to the Football Homeless World Cup in Glasgow as a member of the Indian women's team.
About Slum Soccer:
Slum Soccer is a multiple award winning Sport4Development organization that uses football as a tool for the social upliftment of downtrodden demographics and at-risk youth. We work with recovering drug addicts and alcoholics, slum dwellers, street children, juvenile delinquents, and children of commercial sex workers. With more than 8000 at-risk youth enrolled in 37 centers across India, Slum Soccer has gone from strength to strength in the last 15 years.
About Akanksha:
Akanksha is one of the stars of our women's team. She has bravely faced blow after blow dealt by fate during her childhood. Born to an alcoholic father in a village infamous for its addiction to the bottle, she witnessed her father's losing battle to addiction that culminated in his demise. One of four sisters, she has fought against the policing of relatives, the restrictions of her parochial village, and conventions of society to get where she is today.
Four years ago, she was one of the first female participants in our Slum Soccer football camps. Football acted as both a means of escape from her bleak situation and a means of expression of her talents and dreams. She has grown inexorably in confidence over the past four years and now acts as a shining beacon of inspiration for her sisters and other girls in the village. Her mother, once over-protective of her daughters to the point of suffocation, now beams with pride when she realizes that Akanksha is getting a chance to represent her country in an international tournament.
Your contributions will go towards funding Akanksha's tickets and visa for next month's Homeless World Cup in Glasgow, Scotland. We would be very grateful for any show of support, as we all help this strong teenage girl render a hitherto black-and-white life in resplendent color.
About the Homeless World Cup:
Founded by Mel Young and Harald Schmied in 2001, the Homeless World Cup is an annual football tournament that advocates for a global solution to homelessness. With partners in more than 70 countries, the competition touches the lives of 100,000 homeless people every year through experience sharing and an infusion of respect and importance that their lives have lacked so far.
About Slum Soccer:
Slum Soccer is a multiple award winning Sport4Development organization that uses football as a tool for the social upliftment of downtrodden demographics and at-risk youth. We work with recovering drug addicts and alcoholics, slum dwellers, street children, juvenile delinquents, and children of commercial sex workers. With more than 8000 at-risk youth enrolled in 37 centers across India, Slum Soccer has gone from strength to strength in the last 15 years.
About Akanksha:
Akanksha is one of the stars of our women's team. She has bravely faced blow after blow dealt by fate during her childhood. Born to an alcoholic father in a village infamous for its addiction to the bottle, she witnessed her father's losing battle to addiction that culminated in his demise. One of four sisters, she has fought against the policing of relatives, the restrictions of her parochial village, and conventions of society to get where she is today.
Four years ago, she was one of the first female participants in our Slum Soccer football camps. Football acted as both a means of escape from her bleak situation and a means of expression of her talents and dreams. She has grown inexorably in confidence over the past four years and now acts as a shining beacon of inspiration for her sisters and other girls in the village. Her mother, once over-protective of her daughters to the point of suffocation, now beams with pride when she realizes that Akanksha is getting a chance to represent her country in an international tournament.
Your contributions will go towards funding Akanksha's tickets and visa for next month's Homeless World Cup in Glasgow, Scotland. We would be very grateful for any show of support, as we all help this strong teenage girl render a hitherto black-and-white life in resplendent color.
About the Homeless World Cup:
Founded by Mel Young and Harald Schmied in 2001, the Homeless World Cup is an annual football tournament that advocates for a global solution to homelessness. With partners in more than 70 countries, the competition touches the lives of 100,000 homeless people every year through experience sharing and an infusion of respect and importance that their lives have lacked so far.
