Manuel Akanji: “I’m with Team UNICEF. What about you?”
Manuel Akanji is a pro footballer on the Swiss national team. But football isn’t the only thing that matters to him: Akanji helps children around the world by supporting UNICEF.
On Saturday, I’ll be representing Switzerland at the FIFA World Cup. Maybe you’ll be watching the game on TV.
Every time I play, I give one hundred percent. Even when we falter, I don’t give up. There’s no question that football is an important part of my life. But it’s not the only thing that matters. I’m also a father, and most of all I want my three children to grow up safe and healthy and feel that they are loved.
I am moved when I hear about children like Salvation. Salvation is from Nigeria, my father’s homeland. His village was attacked when he was just a few months old. To save his life, his mother Mary Patrick fled with him to Gombi, in northeastern Nigeria. But food was hard to come by and Mary and Salvation found very little to eat. The child became thinner and weaker, until he didn’t even have the strength to cry.
Mary Patrick recalls those terrible days. “He used to feel like a leaf when I carried him.” She took him to a UNICEF-supported clinic, where the staff measured the thickness of his arm with a special color-coded tape. Salvation’s result was red, meaning that he suffered from severe acute malnutrition. His life was in danger. But there was hope: Mary was given small silver sachets of special therapeutic foods developed for children like Salvation. His condition improved within days, and when his arm was measured again a few weeks later, the result was green. “When I look at him now, I see a precious gift that I almost lost. But he is still here,” Mary says as she hugs her son. “Salvation is still here.”
I care about the welfare of children. I want to help, and with UNICEF, I’ve found the right parter. UNICEF promotes values that are important to me: responsibility, professionalism, respect and perseverence. But above all, UNICEF helps children in need. Children like Salvation.
It takes a team to improve the lives of children worldwide. It takes people who are willing to help and not look away. Join me by becoming part of this team. Your support makes a difference for children like Salvation. Never give up. For every child. Thank you.
UNICEF fights malnutrition worldwide by providing:
- Therapeutic milk and therapeutic food for malnourished children
- Health services and lifesaving medical supplies
- Training for health workers and parents
All over the world, whether in the desert heat of Chad, the refugee camps of Jordan or the slums of Dhaka, girls and boys play football. For many, it is far more than just play.
Chad. Escalating violence in her hometown forced 10-year-old Soukra Saboun to flee Sudan. She now lives in a refugee camp in Chad. Her weekly highlight: football on Thursdays. “I like to practice, because it gives my body a workout,” Soukra says. “When I’m playing, I forget that I don’t live at home anymore. Football keeps me from being sad all the time. And when I’m playing, I think that there can be nice things again.”
The football project is part of a child protection program launched by UNICEF. Physical activity helps children relieve stress, regain a sense of normalcy and build self-confidence and resilience.
Jordan. 13-year-old Rahaf beams as she runs across the football pitch at her school in the Za'atari refugee camp. "I always thought that only boys were allowed to play football," she says, until one day she saw some girls playing on the school’s new football pitch. “That gave me the courage to give it a try, too.” Football has become her new passion: “Now I run, score goals, and even have the confidence to cheer. It feels like freedom,” says Rahaf. She feels stronger, more focused, and more confident.
UNICEF helped fund the football pitch in the Za’atari refugee camp, creating a safe place for girls and boys to play, grow, and enjoy a little bit of childhood.
Bangladesh. Shymuli (17) loves football. Her favorite player is Lionel Messi. She regularly takes part in the "Sports for Development" (S4D) program, which UNICEF launched together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Bangladesh and which gives children a safe place to play. The program is aimed at vulnerable children and adolescents in rural areas and urban slums – particularly girls, who often fall victim to child marriage and violence.
Community mobilizers play a key role in this: they go from door to door, encouraging parents and local community leaders to let their daughters attend football practice. They also teach girls about the dangers of child marriage and child labor and inform families about the importance of education and protection.
Sudan. In his short life, 13-year-old Mohammed* has already experienced a great deal of suffering: His village was attacked and he had to flee. In the chaos, he was separated from his parents and siblings. To this day, he still doesn't know what happened to them.
Mohammed lives in a camp for internally displaced people in Gadaref, in eastern Sudan, and visits the UNICEF-supported child-friendly spaces in the camp every day. “The thing I love most at the child-friendly space is football," he says. As soon as he mentions football, his sad face brightens. An orange ball accompanies him everywhere he goes.
UNICEF, together with its partners, creates safe spaces where children fleeing conflict can play, learn and make friends. They also receive psychosocial support to help them work through their trauma.
*The child's name has been changed to protect his identity.
Chad. Abakar Moussa contracted polio as a child. He survived and has been in a wheelchair ever since, but that hasn't stopped him from coaching football. He uses his role model status to teach children and their parents about polio vaccinations.
Guatemala. 11-year-old Regina has found a new passion in football. She is participating in the UNICEF-supported "Fair Play" initiative, which uses football to support children and young people and foster respect, inclusion, team spirit, leadership and self-confidence. The initiative has been introduced in more than 90 countries.
Uganda. Flooding has forced many families from their villages. In their temporary shelter, the Kajweka camp for displaced persons, children are finding joy and solidarity in a simple game of football.
UNICEF works with local partners to ensure that children in crisis situations have access to safe spaces and the resources they need to regain their strength and confidence.