Malawi: The Balaka Police Station hosted street connected children for a brief meeting encouraging them to be productive. During the meeting, the Police officers partnered with the other stakeholders of the community to create a football team.
The aim of the creating the football team is to ensure that the youngsters are not engaging in any illegal activities. The authorities want to keep the youngsters occupied in productive activities and off the streets.
The initiative is being taken with the aim of discouraging the youngsters of the country from turning to a life of crime. The Balaka Police Station Officer-in-Charge Dan Sauten delivered brief remarks at the event.
He thanked members of Balaka Town Community Policing Forum and Tigawane Family for thinking of the initiative. The officer believes that the creation of the football teams would transform the lives of the children for the better.
“Despite being street connected kids, they also require our protection; let me commend all partners that made this possible. This is job well done”.
“Let me also encourage the children to keep on furnishing the police with relevant information concerning criminals. This helps police in curbing robbery in the district,” said Sauten. The police force has remained committed to ensuring peace and security in the region.
The officer in charge assured that Balaka Police Station will continue with night patrols to keep the children off the streets. The children who participated in the meeting were presented with footballs as a symbol of their commitment.
After the presentation, Child Protection Officer for Tigawane Family, Elisa Charlie expressed her delight with the new development. She promised to further support the newly formed street connected children football teams with resources that should sustain the initiative.
Charlie said as Tigawane Family, they were looking forward to see the children grow into responsible citizens. She also called upon the children to take advantage of the initiative to change their lives.
Meanwhile, Chairperson for Balaka Football Association, Pegie Mkondiwa also promised to support the initiative. He described it as an essential way of keeping children off the streets.
Twenty-five street connected kids have so far been reached with the initiative.