V. Read the text and decide the statements are true (T) or false (F).
Football changes girls' lives in rural Kenya
“Teaching self-confidence on the field and in life”
“We can do it” is the slogan of an organization in Kenya called Moving The Goalposts. It uses football to increase self-confidence in girls in Kenya and aims for nothing less than changes in the society.
The sound of girls playing football and clapping wildly when they score goals is not a sound often heard in rural Kenya. But here in the Kilifi district, north of the city of Mombasa, it has become fairly common. In this region, some 3,000 girls play football.
The sound of girls playing football and clapping wildly when they score goals is not a sound often heard in rural Kenya. But here in the Kilifi district, north of the city of Mombasa, it has become fairly common. In this region, some 3,000 girls play football.
Today, on a dusty pitch in the village of Sokoke, 22 girls are playing in a training session, half in blue shirts, and half in red ones. Many are barefoot. The weather is very hot but the girls are constantly in motion.
But these girls are learning a lot more than just how to pass, kick and score; they are learning how to think in new ways, ways that are unusual for young women in this part of the world.
"It is about a teenage girl realizing her goals in life, making her own decisions, including sexual decisions," Margaret Belewa, program manager of the Moving the Goalposts project, said. "Most of the times, those decisions are made by the parents or by the husband. How can we help her so that she can take control of her life?"
Moving the Goalposts aims to empower girls and young women in Kilifi, one of the poorest districts in Kenya, through football.
