23-Apr-2012
Dream of an Olympian
Aamir Bilal
“You have to stand guard over the development and maintenance of democracy, social justice and the equality of manhood in your own native soil with faith, discipline and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot achieve” This is the quote of our great leader and father of nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, written in bold letters on a giant partition between the studio and the desks of Pakistan Television News room.
Johann Olav Koss is perhaps one of the greatest winter athletes to date. The winner of four Olympic Gold medals, eleven world records and President and CEO of Right to Play, which is a unique sport for development international organization, read the statement of Quaid very carefully and could not resist commenting on the greatness, vision and leadership of our great leader.
Being present on the occasion I felt very proud and elevated by the rich tributes paid to Quaid by the Olympian who’s cherished leader is non else than Nelson Mandela and who himself is included in the list of hundred future leaders of the world by TIME magazine and one of the thousand Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum.
It was 09th of June and President Asif Zardari was on air at 0530 Pm in a popular PTV programme, Date Line Pakistan. One could make out that nothing was coming from his heart and the President was trying to read a script simply out of share compulsion, about the inclusion of marginalized children in the main stream of society, a ciliate often used by development sector in Pakistan with great discretion and diplomacy.
Johann had to go on air, live in same programme just after the President. Our gracious host in PTV requested us to wait for five minutes in the office of Director News. Those five minutes were indeed most embarrassing for me, as a report on the killing of a young man by the Rangers in Karachi was being aired. I could easily see the agony and anguish on the face of Johann, as the Olympian who champions the cause of peace and tolerance in the world through sport was busy spreading his message amongst the youth of Pakistan by physically visiting them in far flung and remote areas of Mardan and Mansehra.
“Equality of the manhood” was the phrase from the above mentioned quote, of Quaid echoing in my ears time and again. I was contemplating about the impression this incidence has casted on Johann’s mind, as he had to go live in couple of minutes in more than eighty countries of the world.
We all should be indebted to the champion for showing extreme maturity and thoughtfulness by giving highly encouraging and positive remarks in the favour of Pakistan and its society and potential of its youth, who are subjected to a continuous wave of terrorism and extremism. His message was clear, “Pakistan is absolutely safe for the international athletes and foreign teams. There is no reason why they can’t come to Pakistan where people are extremely friendly and sport loving. If I can come here, why can’t they”.
Johann has a sensitive soul and a passionate heart that moved him to visit Eritrea in 1993 as part of Olympic Aid, where he decided to commit himself to help the marginalized children of the world through sport and play. His dream came true when Johann made the World headlines in 1994 Lillehammer Games where he won three gold medals in 1500, 5000, and 10,000 meter events and donated his earnings to raise a sport for development and humanitarian organization known as Right to Play.
With 04 Olympic Gold and eleven World Records in speed skating, Johann enjoys godly status in Norway, Scandinavians, North Americans, Canada, Europe and Africa. Despite his tremendous achievements and the status of an eternal idol Johann is very humble and humane both in his nature and conduct.
Winning gold medals and breaking world records was not enough for him. He knew the fact that records are meant to be broken, but legacies are there to last. Because of his excellent education, careful up bringing at home and influence of his mother and dedication of trainer Leila Anderson, the Norwegian Champion had materialized his dream. A dream which was not only about his personal glory, but about the glory of so many poor children in the world, including the children of Mardan and Mansehra who never had the opportunity to express their abilities through sport and play .
He urged them to work hard and look after one another as students and community leaders. He inspired faith in them and assured them about Right to play’s commitment to every child for providing them an opportunity to participate in healthy activities and making education a joyful experience for them through sports.
Right to Play is indeed the pioneers of Sport for Development in the world. It reaches more than 700,000 children of the world every week. Right to Play engages a cross section of society that includes coaches, players, leaders, policy makers, academia and media to spread their message and programme across the world.
Addressing the local elders and leaders in a large gathering at Mardan, where number of young cadets were martyred in a military training establishment by the terrorists couple of months ago, Johann spelled out his vision that allows children the opportunity to build critical life skills through sport and play, ultimately creating the leadership needed for social change in communities affected by conflict, war, poverty and disease.
With the help of more than 400 Athlete Ambassadors including world renowned football player Zedan, Right to Play trains local community leaders to deliver their programme to most marginalized children in countries effected by war, poverty, conflict and disease. Johann said that Right to Play work is guided by UN Convention on the rights of the child and involves a unique methodology that encourages long term behavioural change. We achieve this by using sport and play as tool for learning in four critical areas, including basic education and child development, health promotion, disease prevention, conflict resolution and peace building and community development and participation he added.
This international program that started with 15 projects and 37,000 children in poorest countries like Benin, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania has now 49 projects and more than 1,177,000 children as its beneficiaries including China, Pakistan, Sudan, Thailand and UAE.
Besides Johann’s personal contributions Right to Play international raises its funds trough different sponsors, foundations, philanthropists and corporations and the programme is duly aided by the government of Norway and Switzerland. Born out of a legacy project and an Olympian’s vision to make the world in which we live a safer, happier and healthier one for our next generations, the government of Khyber Pukhtunkhawa was first to realize its importance, potential and utility for its conflict ridden youth.
Within the given challenging security situation of KPK the Right to Play through its dedicated efforts of almost 09 years has managed to involve 80,000 students in its activities in a total of 182 schools out of which 70 are girls school. This unique initiative is managed in Pakistan through its country office in Islamabad where Mr Iqbal Jattoi looks after the project with the help of a dedicated team.
Being a great supporter of sports as a tool for development and achievement of Millennium Development Goals, Johan’s brief visit to Pakistan was a unique opportunity for me to travel with him, witness the projects of Right to Play in the field and learn from the experience of this great athlete and a wonderful human being.
I learned that students in Right to Play classes are more actively engaged than students in classes with non-participating teachers. Parents and children present in Mardan and Mansehra frequently indicated that their children have developed skills that help them to prevent and resolve peer-conflict peacefully and to become agents of change.
A young school going girl from Mardan admitted that she was a very shy girl who would not interact with other friends and would never discuss her fears. But with participation in sport and play activities of Right to Play she is now far more confident than before. I now play with my pears and we respect each other more. I have made many friends and have learnt to accept others opinion through sports, she added.
One of the best things about Right to Play that I observed in field was there ability to introduce customized games and fun activities for children that don’t require large play fields. Though Right to play has constructed and repaired over one hundred play fields and provided 60,000 pieces of sport equipment in the project areas but there real essence is training of young leaders and teachers, which is very much required in our educational set up that offers nothing except rot learning.
Right to Play is a great value addition in our education system that has lost its contact with sports due to our poor policy making and inability to understand the value of sport for education and achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDG). This inability and to most extent our self interest, was amply displayed by a private school system in Islamabad that houses and educate elite children but its management shows no empathy towards the slum children that surrounds the school building in a posh sector of Islamabad.
The lady principal of the elite school happens to be ex Federal Secretary of Women Development and ex Special Secretary of Special Education & Social Welfare, but the slum around her school was a no-go zone of filth, thuggery, and ignorance for her. It was nothing more than a “cesspool” and she feels little responsibility towards the marginalized children of her countrymen, whose land was acquired by the influential lady to build school and play grounds on very easy terms, to make money on the name of quality education.
There are many types of education systems running parallel in our country, but none has its focus on developing the life skills of children. Our children are very intelligent and studious but they lack leadership skills, discipline, team work and empathy. Right to Play offers a multi layered approach to develop these traits in the children that starts from individual child, involves parents and siblings, takes schools and communities in its fold and targets policy makers, media and civil society for a sustainable change.
The Punjab government has announced building of multiple sport arenas in Lahore and its surrounding areas. I hope that sanity prevails and unlike ghost schools where neither students nor teachers exist, these facilities if properly managed and used can play a vital role in promoting a sustainable sports culture in the district. However these facilities need programs and Right to Play offer these programs as per the local needs.
The Right to Play programs includes researched based resources for the children of various age groups. Its “Red Ball Child Play” (RBCP) which is also the logo of Right to Play targets ages 6 to 12 years and promotes intellectual, physical, emotional and social development in children by focusing on the healthy development of the whole child.
The “Team Up” resource is for age group between six and ten years with an aim to promote positive peace including over one hundred games and play activities that can be managed in a small place. Right to Play’s “Youth As leader” (YAL) engages youth between ages of 13 to 25 years thus providing meaningful activities to develop a sense of efficacy, pride and confidence. This is an excellent program for our college and university students.
When Johann was asked about the future of Sport for Development initiative in a resource constraint country like Pakistan, he simply disagreed that Pakistan is resource constraint. He said that it’s all about right mindset, priority of allocation, understanding of the subject and resolve of the government and leadership that can take sport for development on right course. Even in the absence of government interest the people, the civil society, media and corporate sector combined together can take this initiative to scale.
What ever Right to Play has achieved to date, was not possible without the dedication, vision and leadership of Johann Olav Koss who enjoys universal appeal, respect and distinction of “Best Norwegian Olympian Ever”, the Jesse Owens Award and Sportsman of the Year by USA Sports illustrated. Johann who is a medical doctor an MBA and recipient of two Doctor of Laws degrees from Brock University and University of Calgary departed for Toronto after a hectic week in Pakistan.
The message that he gave at his departure was heartening yet challenging. He gave an extension of five years to his project in Pakistan and advised the government functionaries, the philanthropists, the corporate sector and the civil society to put in there bit and take ownership of this great initiative which has the potential to change the leadership landscape of Pakistan through sports and games. This is indeed a daunting challenge, and for most it looks beyond comprehension. They have yet to understand that no citadel can be built without strong foundations.
Pakistan not only needs world champions but also able minded youth, with a world view and acceptability in global village. Youth who have tolerance and understanding for other races and religions? We need good leaders at all levels and Right to Play offers some interesting and sustainable solutions to our complex issues.
Our sports person also needs to draw lesson out of Johann’s life. They should understand their larger role in communities and society. Government is not always the answer to all issues including promotion of sports. There are few who think that sport can’t be fixed till the time they become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The time has come that they should understand the value and strength of sport and should looking beyond sport and become the catalyst of change in the communities they live in.
They should understand the value of dreams, and to know that human bodies have limitations and you can’t continue enjoying and performing international sports for ever. There records will be broken and new names will be endorsed in the annals of history. However their legacy can last for ever, provided they have the capacity to dream and the will to transform their dream into reality like Johann Koss.
Aamir Bilal
13 June 2011
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