Football Without Borders - Sudan, Chad, DR Congo, Niger

Today, I received a newsletter message via Facebook from Jakob. The message inspired me to respond.  I think Jakob is part of a group of Niger watchers, namely @ Play31.  We've probably connected via my 'soccer and free footballs' postings at Niger Watch.  Here is a copy of Jakob's message and my reply.

From Jakob
Football Without Borders
Dear all,

As those of us who are in the northern hemisphere are enjoying the questionable weather of Nordic Summer, a new Play31 tournament is under way in Sierra Leone. Next weekend in Koindu Village in Eastern Sierra Leone, communities from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone will kick off the first tri-nation tournament.

We are very happy and proud to be able to reach out to communities in neighboring countries. The war in Sierra Leone knew no borders: refugees, rebels, arms, and diamonds spilled over the porous line that separates Sierra Leone from Guinea and Liberia and so it only makes sense that we at Play31 also work with “football without borders”. Of course, our objective remains the same: using footie to bring together people who have been torn apart by war.

Because of the generosity of so many of you in this group as well as the Clinton Foundation and a lot of UN Ambassadors, we now have money enough to include two very important aspects into our tournament: below 14-teams and shoes for all players.

Play31 is growing steadily at the moment and we hope to launch quite a few new initiatives soon. Among other things, we are right now setting up a Danish board in Denmark consisting of Danes. More information on all these exciting new projects will come soon so stay tuned.

With continued gratitude for your support and with love for the Beautiful Game,

Jakob and everyone @ Play31

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Copy of my email reply re: Football Without Borders - Sudan

Dear Jakob, Football is a peaceful fun way for people of different cultures to get together, football games are a good thing. I would like to help focus on football in Sudan and, eventually, Chad, DR Congo. Please let me know how I can help using my blogs. Best wishes, Ingrid Jones, England, UK.

http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com
http://congowatch.blogspot.com

plus others on Uganda, Ethiopia, Niger, Kenya, Egypt.

PS  On completing my reply email to Jakob, I pressed SEND (at the Facebook site) but nothing happened. Repeated procedure. Same again. So I have no idea if my message has reached Jakob.

Hopefully this blog post will deliver the above message to Jakob.