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As part of activities marking the third quarter of the Sahel Peace Initiative (SPI) project, the Damongo Diocesan Youth Council in Collaboration with CRS organized Peace Games at the Damongo Town Park on Sunday the 11th July, 2021.
Games such as Football, Volleyball, Playing cards, Ludo among others were competed for by participants.
The programme brought together about 200 youth, children and some adults as well. These people were drawn from the Islamic community, Catholic Church and the Local Council of Churches within the Damongo Township.
Present to grace the Peace Games were the Assistant Diocesan Youth Chaplain and Secretary to the Catholic Bishop of Damongo, Rev. Fr. Francis Xavier Kanzong, Rev. Fr. Clement Majeed Bakari, chaplain of the St. Anne’s Catholic Hospital, Damongo. Chief Nyiribiwura Yakubu Jarga Abukari, the Youth Chief of Damongo chaired the program.
Before the games kick started, children were engaged in dancing competition to showcase their dancing skills and to give them some entertainment. They were so excited and did not want it stop to make way for the main activity of the day.
The games officially started with a Muslim prayer by Miss Fawruza Mukaila, a Young Peace Ambassador.
Rev. Fr. Francis Xavier visited the various teams as they prepared to take their positions. His visit was to reiterate the goal of these games.
Explaining the rationale behind the games, he said the games were played not to get the best team but serve as an opportunity for them to interact through games. He therefore called on all players to put it at the back of their minds that peace is the ultimate goal for these games.
The football game was played between Canteen Stars and Jafo FC, a football team in town, with Canteen Stars winning 4-1.
Canteen is a suburb of Damongo and it is made up mainly of settlers. The game was intentionally fixed between these teams to bridge the gap between the two sections. It is said that anytime a team from Canteen plays with a team in town, the game ends in quarrels.
So our aim was to see to the successful end to the game. It ended as planned.
The Chairman, Chief Nyiribiwura Abukari in a remark, said players of both teams exhibited calm and peace during the game, saying “I am particularly proud of you as the Youth Chief and I want to see more of this future matches that will be organized between youth groups or teams”.
Nyiribiwura Yakubu Jarga Abukari thanked CRS and the Damongo Diocesan Office for reactivating what they experienced in their childhood days. He said in his youth days, the Catholic Mission in Damongo used to be the home of activities where similar events of today were mostly done and every young person had no reason to miss out going to the parish house because of the numerous activities that were carried. He is very happy to see today that Rev. Fr. Francis Xavier Kanzong and the team of organizers have taken it upon themselves to organized similar events and this is a good start.
In his closing remarks, Rev. Fr. Kanzong said PEACE has won. There is no winner or loser as far as these peace games are concerned. He further expressed joy that from the beginning of the match till the end there was no fight or disagreement between any of the teams and that alone showed that Peace has won indeed.
Mr. Zacchaeus Tieruzie, the Parish Youth Chairman of the St. Anne’s Cathedral and one of the organizers of the peace games grabbed the opportunity to thank the Almighty God, Sponsors (CRS), Chairman, Rev. Frs. Imams, invited guests, participating teams, spectators and every one for their time spent from the start to the end in his thank you message.
Mr. Paul Nyeaza, a student of the Damongo Agricultural College said the closing prayer and the final blessing done by Rev. Fr. Francis Xavier Kanzong.
Commentators for the peace games were Miss Vivian Nuomansu and Mr. Theophilus.
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