THE Salim Mehdawicoach of Hertha, takes a seat in the center of the room, in the indoor gym of a school in Bonn. Around him gather many small children, boys and girls who form a circle. They are all refugee children. They do not understand the instructions in German, but they try to participate and join the group. Anyone who scores a goal celebrates and their joy seems to be contagious to all the children participating in the game.

“It’s definitely a challenge to work with all these kids,” Mehdawi tells Deutsche Welle. “Each time other children come, there is also the language barrier. But all this fills you with joy, you see that the effort is paying off and gives you strength to continue.”

Through football, the children take the first steps towards their integration into German society, after the traumatic experience of displacement. At this stage, the question is not athletic performance, but a first acquaintance with the rules for joint effort and joint symbiosis. “Children learn behaviors,” says the Hertha Bonn coach. “The common greeting and the farewell after training. The fact that everyone gives the ball to the other children does not keep it only for themselves. In addition to the sports part, there is also the part of social interaction”.

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This aspect is particularly important as all the children come from a first reception center for refugees in the Bonn area which is close to the stadium. From March 2022 the local Hertha club, under the direction of Salim Mehdawi, who at the time was doing his alternative social service, started a program to integrate immigrant minors into German local society through football.

Many times the coach communicates with the children in rudimentary English or French. Although this is impossible, she resorts to ‘non-verbal communication’ by showing children cards with specific pictures, symbols or slogans, for example ‘Stop’ or ‘Five minute break’. Usually children leave training after a few days or even weeks. But by then they have learned some basic rules of coexistence while at the same time changing performances from the difficult everyday life they are forced to experience in the refugee centers. Recently, the program was awarded by the German Football Association (DFB).

The work of volunteers is important

As Andje Nekhili, who coordinates the volunteers of the program, says, “these experiences are very important for the children. The refugee had taught them that only the strongest can survive, so they often show brutal behavior at first. But through play they learn to yield, to respect the smaller or the weaker. This is how they learn the rules of social coexistence.”

As the vice-president of Hertha Bonn, Jörg Michael, says, it is important to recognize the work of the volunteers participating in the program. He even notes that “as a sports club, we also have obligations towards society, since the municipal authority grants us the sports infrastructure for free…”

Edited by: Yiannis Papadimitriou