Spring Break
'Kick For Africa' raises money for the Gulu Walk
Faten Husni Odeh
Issue date: 10/21/08 Section: News
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The event was a soccer tournament to raise money for the Gulu Walk, an annual walk for the children of Uganda who have suffered from civil unrest in the country.
"A lot of minority students play soccer and we thought this would be a good opportunity to bring all international students together," said Jennifer Nnmani, vice president of the ASO. "Then we thought, 'why don't we have a cause for it?' We later added the Gulu Walk and the books for Africa. It's the first time we have [had] something like this on campus and we hope to have it next year."
Organizations were asked to form teams of at least seven players and each player donated $5 to the cause.
"The turnout we had was better than we [ASO] expected and we didn't know how people would react to it. We invited everybody but the intended target came out," Nnmani said.
Among the teams registered to play in the soccer tournament were S.A.L.S.A., the Arab Student Union and the African Student Organization.
"It was good to see all the international students come out for a good cause," said Adel Yousef, a member of the Arab Student Union. "We all came from different places but we all had something in common: soccer."
If an organization did not want to participate in the soccer tournament, but supported the cause, they were encouraged to donate books, money and come watch the games.
The tournament was held on Blount Field and started around 2 p.m. and lasted until about 6:30 p.m. About $100 dollars was raised, as well as books for African children.
"We raised a good amount of money and if people want to make donations they still can contact the chairperson, Maria Awosanya," Nnmani said.
"S.A.L.S.A. cares a lot about the people in Africa and we wanted to help," said Carlos Kattan, S.A.L.S.A. member and senior industrial distribution and logistics major. "We had a lot of fun out there and met a bunch of nice people. I'm glad we got the chance to play."
The Gulu Walk will be held on Nov. 1 in Greenville around 9 a.m.
What started off with just two people in 2005 has now become a worldwide event, according to the official Web site guluwalk.com.
The walk will take place all over the world in hopes to create awareness of the suffering in Uganda. For more information about the GuluWalk in Greenville contact Maria Awosanya at mfa0808@ecu.edu.
This writer can be contacted at news@theteastcarolinian.com
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