2022 PeacePlayers Impact Report FINAL - Flipbook - Page 7
“
As an alumna of PeacePlayers’ Global
Fellowship program (Northern Ireland
2015-2017), I couldn’t be prouder of the
trajectory of the organization, and to be
in a position to take learnings from my
fellowship at PeacePlayers Northern
Ireland to inform our work in the United
States.
And just as those learnings from my
fellowship helped influence how I see my
work with PeacePlayers U.S., our work in
the US in turn has challenged PeacePlayers
as a global organization to center equity in
our peacebuilding work. The nuances of
the U.S context has nudged us to consider
structural inequities that underpin conflict
and affect life outcomes of many young
people both here in the U.S. and globally.
”
SALLY NNAMANI
Alumna of Global Fellowship Program (Northern Ireland)
and currently Director of Programs and Partnerships
at PeacePlayers United States
“
On a personal Level, PeacePlayers has
meant a lot in my life. After high school,
I didn’t really have anything to do. I was
bored, and unemployment was high
in Wentworth, where I lived. I joined a
gang and started dealing drugs. One day
in 2006, when PeacePlayers came to my
community to do coaching clinics, I joined
them just to see what it was all about. I
loved the way PeacePlayers treated the
children and also the basketball got me
hooked. I learned that there’s more out
there than dealing drugs. I then became a
coach — other kids started looking to me
as a father figure. I grew a bond with the
children and staff, and as much as I was
teaching the children life skills, it was
also teaching me about life.
”
SHELDON FRANCIS
PeacePlayers South Africa program alumnus
and former coach
“
Growing up, I told a lot of people that
I was an athlete, that I actually played
serious basketball as part of the national
Israeli team [a PeacePlayers All-Star
Team]. But many people wouldn’t actually
listen to me or take me seriously. And it
would make me angry, because comments
like these make you understand how
much people underestimate female sports
in general, but also me being a Palestinian
athlete, trying to thrive in that world.
But once I realized the honor and respect
that all of our coaches gave us and the
seriousness that they treated us with,
we started understanding that no matter
what other people think, respect starts
from within.
”
MALAK A.
Palestinian alumna of the PeacePlayers Middle East
Leadership Development Program and All-Stars teams
READ THE FULL ADDRESS AT PEACEPLAYERS.ORG/OUR-STORIES
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