The Education for Peace in Iraq Center

[The Education for Peace in Iraq Center]

Goals and Dreams Foundation on Soccer Salam

by Jonathan Frederickson

Amongst the 3 million displaced people in Iraq are a large population of children who have endured extraordinary violence and hardship. Goals and Dreams is a committed partner of Soccer Salam because its aim is to ease their suffering and promote hope in their lives through sport and play.

Goals and Dreams is an organization that leverages the power of sport to promote peace among children in war torn areas of the world by providing a way out from the cycle of violence that surrounds them. We were founded by a group of U.S. military veterans that came together behind this purpose after witnessing two important points during their time deployed to Iraq:

First, we witnessed the impact war has on children – In Iraq and elsewhere throughout the world they are often the tool or target of extraordinary brutality. Sadly this continues with daily news of children either being enlisted by ISIS to commit acts of barbarity or being the intended victim of violence directly.

Second, we saw the powerful hope sport can provide first hand – In 2007 our founders watched as the Iraqi national football team advanced to the Asia Cup finals. When they defeated Saudi Arabia to win the Cup (a first for Iraq), something changed in the country and the sectarian conflicts that were devastating its people seemed to fade into background noise for a brief moment.

The Goals and Dreams team jumped at the chance to to join Soccer Salam. Iraq was our initial inspiration and where we developed our first operations. Further, many of us still have a very personal connection and feeling of commitment to the place and people. We spent a considerable amount of time there and would like to see Iraq become a place of peace and hope. Iraq’s children are the country’s future, and thus providing a constructive and healthy way out of the violence that has been their context is critical.

[The Education for Peace in Iraq Center]

Help Us Move the Ball Down the Field

By Taif Jany, EPIC’s Program Associate

Currently, more than 3 million people are displaced from their homes in Iraq, including 2 million who were forced to flee their homes and livelihoods because of violence over the past year. Roughly half of those displaced are children.

Right now, they need our support. They need to know that someone out there cares.

I know because I was once among those children. Targeted violence against my family, including the kidnapping and disappearance of my father, forced us to flee Baghdad in 2006. Fortunately, there were concerned Americans who reached out to help me, to show that they cared, and to invest in my future, helping me become the man I am today.

With Soccer Salam, you now have an opportunity to make a similar difference in the life of a young person who urgently needs your support.

With only $10, you can hand an Iraqi child a soccer ball and an opportunity to play. Just $50 will deliver emergency assistance to a family in need.

Please join me as we move the ball down the field toward our goal of helping 5,000 children and families who have been forced to flee their homes.