Gift of Sport (Digital Download)

How your gift has helped Laughter Africa children in the past year:

People always ask us about Aminata aka Amie the footballer. Well she is still making waves in the Female Premier League, playing for Ram-Kay in the 2024 football season.

Amie’s dream has always been to represent her country and now that moment has finally happened. Amie was asked to represent her country for the first time as part of the National Sierra Leone football team in the Ramkay Female Tournament (Women's day Cup) which took place in March 2024.

Sierra Leone scored 8 points altogether in the tournament which was enough for them to clinch the trophy! Amie even scored a goal in the final game. She says, "After I scored the goal, I cried because I have been so desperate to wear that jersey and play for Sierra Leone for such a long time. Its all I have ever dreamed of. Then the first chance I get to play for my country and I score a goal. I cried tears of joy. I couldn't believe it. I feel so good."

You can see Amie's amazing goal here (Its at around 59 minutes into the video) :  

https://www.facebook.com/61556068204876/videos/394199963242235

Amie was also selected to represent her country again in Senegal in May 2024. She took part in the qualifier for CAF. Amie received 26,200 leones from the government as prize money for taking part in the two tournaments. Amie has bought land in Wellington and is slowly building a house for herself with any money that she earns. She also earns a monthly salary while playing for Ram K in the national league which is more than enough to provide for her and her daily needs.

Amie has another tournament coming up- the Mano River Union Female Tournament- which will be taking place in Sierra Leone from 2nd to 8th December 2024. She will be playing against Liberia and Guinea. So keep your eyes peeled for those matches!

She says, "Sometimes I feel sad when I watch the other girls - they are surrounded by their families being cheered on and I have no one. But then I remembered all the messages of support from supporters from Laughter Africa and I realised that I am not alone and I do have a family. Thank you!"

Despite all of her achievements, Amie still remains humble and grateful for the opportunities that he has been given. She wrote to me recently, "Being asked to represent my country was my happiest moment. Thank you Laughter for making me who I am today."

Not only is Amie a superstar on the pitch, she is one off the pitch too. Amie has also completed a diploma in Public Health and she is about to graduate from university on 14th December 2024.

To see an interview with Amie, please watch a documentary about Laughter Africa’s work here.

Bomeh was the location of our last mobile project from February 2024 until June 2024.  It’s in the Eastern part of Freetown where most rubbish ends up. During the day, the street children scavenge for materials such as plastic or copper while they sleep on the dump at night.

Every month at our mobile project at Bomeh, we held a sports tournament for 4 teams: Team Champion, Captain American, All Stars and Young Shall Grow. They battled it out in games of rounders, badminton, football, volleyball and basketball. ‘Captain America’ were the victors in March while Team ‘All Stars’ won the tournament in April! Meanwhile ‘Young Shall Grow’ were the champions in May  while ‘Team Champion’ were the winners for June. This means that every team won a tournament once.

One of the best players in Captain America was 17 year old "Skinny" aka Aminata. After being forced out of her home by her new step father, she’s spent seven years on the streets. She is the mother of 1 year old Ibrahim who is her biggest cheerleader. Throughout the tournament she showed no fear and just got stuck into every activity. She said, "𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩- 𝙞𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙨, 𝙣𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚."

Meanwhile the youngest team member of Captain America was 10 year old Ibrahim Sorie. He said, "I like sport as I can have fun with my friends. I feel free. It makes me happy. On the street we don't play games like this."

The members of each winning team received a medal. All the winners slept with their medals around their necks on the streets. That medal is the only thing that they have of their own and they are fiercely protective of it. They guard their medals as if they were the crown jewels. They are just so proud of themselves!

Another sporting success is 12 year old Karim who we met when he came to mobile in Bomeh in May 2024. In his short life he's faced many challenges; being born with a disability, being orphaned by Ebola, suffering maltreatment with his adoptive family and being in hospital for six months battling cancer.

Sports are a favourite at our mobile projects and at first none of the other children wanted him on their team due to his disability. However, Karim shocked them all by being a basketball pro – easily one of the best players on the court. All with a smile on his face. It was lovely to see how Karim through his natural ability won over his teammates and made them realise that they can’t judge someone by a disability.

After about two sessions we didn’t see Karim again and learnt he had returned home to his family as he was struggling with the rainy season. His friend Sheku kindly took us to visit Karim at his Aunty's home. The good news is that Karim is now safe and sound and living with his family again. We paid school for him in September 2024 and we have never seen a child so excited to start school again!