A mission well accomplished

What a great time we had in Oslo during the finals of the MTG United for Peace Cup 2011! I found it hard to believe that it could be better than last year, but this year really was truly amazing. Everything ran smoother; we had learnt from last year and used our experience to make this event even more fun and memorable for the children.
Amongst all the great things we experienced together during the cup finals I think I enjoyed the mixed matches the most. It’s absolutely great to see children from different backgrounds and countries, speaking different languages all come together and communicate via football when they play. That really shows that football is a universal language.

The whole thing about using football as a means of communications was the major thought we had before bringing our charity alive, two years ago. That’s only one of the reasons to why I’m so proud that our project leader Andreas Vatnøy (MTG Norway), recently received a Corporate Responsibility award ”For true dedication and passion displayed in a heart-warming project on top of his daily work.” The award really gives Andreas and us recognition and celebrates our company’s mission. It has given us proof that that original thought that we had really did work.

This year we really wanted to make sure that all the participating children understood the whole meaning of our concept along with our mission of conflict solving and always seeking peaceful solutions. We wanted all the kids to return to their home countries after the event in Oslo as ambassadors for our cause, filled with goodwill.    
There were so many happy occasions during the three days of football fun, education and of course, the football finals. It made me really proud to hear the spontaneous applause, especially from our girl’s teams, when we were standing in the Nobel Peace Center and  heard the Nobel Peace Prize jury’s result and it became evident that no less than three brave women, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman, were the 2011 winners.

Things like that is what make our cause worthwhile and meaningful; when it’s evident that the children really are engaged and that they follow what’s going on with open eyes and minds. It’s clear to see that they are receiving and taking part in something they feel is important. I hope and believe that the children will cherish the experiences they had at the Peace Centre for the future and that it’s something they can bring back to their countries: a sense of feel good that they can share.
Behind our success this year lays the work of a lot of devoted people. I really want to thank all the fantastic volunteers who helped make our event so great. They helped the children day and night, assisted the teams and in return got to share their laughter and tears. To have so many passionate colleagues sign up to help our cause makes me very proud indeed.

For next year’s event, I personally hope that I’ll be able to visit more local tournaments, to meet the children on their home grounds, if you wish. That will change conceptions and we will better understand if and where we can do something more for the participating children who come from difficult circumstances.

The greatest result of MTG United for Peace cup 2011 is that the kids have now gone home to their countries telling everyone about how much fun they’ve had. You can imagine the impact it has if all 125 young footballers talk to, say, two people, and they in their turn each talk to two more and so on. The tales about who we are and what we do will hopefully spread and our organisation might be able to bring fun and education to even more countries and teams for next year!