The SOS Children's Villages, Ghana's version of the 26th African Cup of Nations 2008 has come to a successful end with a four-day gala matches and fun games at the SOS Village, Tema.

The four-day program to crown the occasion started from Wednesday January 30, 2008, with a procession by some selected school children who walked through some principal streets in the Tema Municipality and ended on Saturday February 2, 2008 with a press conference and a coaching clinic organised by Ghanaian football legend, Abedi Pele.

The procession saw school children who displayed placards and banners with messages of peace and non violence to sensitize the youth on violence and gender issues as well as attract many stakeholders to establish cooperation between and among organization that uses sports as a means for peace and development.

"Football for Peace and Development" was the theme for the event and it was aimed at giving the youth a sense of sportsmanship, honesty, fairplay, independence and social responsibility. It was also meant to fight racism, illiteracy, poverty, conflict and other social vices.

SOS Ghana hosted counterparts from Benin, Nigeria, and selected schools from eight out of the ten regions as participants during the events.

The event was organised by SOS Ghana in partnership with International human rights organisations such as Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), Right to Play Ghana, Ngorkor Step By Step, Play Soccer Ghana, Tackle Africa UK and Herman Gmeiner Fund Germany.

The SOS children from the other countries engaged their Ghanaian counterparts in thrilling football matches, which did not have any referees. The players were virtually their own referees determining their own fouls, corners and free kicks.

There was a rational behind the absence of the referees; which is to teach the children how to resolve their own problems without necessarily bringing in an intermediary. It was hoped that the children would learn and grow with good habit so as to positively impact their societies and bring about much needed peace and development.

Mr. Kojo Mattah, the National Director of SOS Children's Villages, Ghana, said it was his hope that at the end of the four-day football festival, the children would have learnt to denounce violence and conflict in all their manifestations and send the message back home that "war does not pay".

He said there could not have been a better way to bring the children together than through football. "If we could all teach our children and the youth the need for dialogue and respect for other people's opinions, I am sure that a lot of the conflict and violence we have in our society, on the African continent and the world would be reduced to the minimum, if not eliminated”, he said.

Mr. Mattah further expressed his belief in the long-term success of the project. "Just as we have been saying of Ghana 2008, this project is not going to end on Saturday, but rather it is for us to know it is the ‘beginning of the beginning’, now that the structures are put in place."

The SOS and its collaborators like Stanbic Bank and the World Bank started the message of projecting football as a tool for peace and development in line with the Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana and held a forum in December 2007, on the theme "harnessing football for peace and development."

A lecturer of University of Innsbruck, Austria, Dr. Bella Bello Bitugu, who is the consultant for the project, has since maintained that sports promotes positive values which have quick but lasting impact on the youth. "The youth learn fair play, discipline, team work, the ability to cope with success and failure both at games and in real life situation which are all essential elements of quality education and which combine to produce credible characters in a society."

The two SOS FIFA Ambassadors, Mr. Anthony Baffoe and Mr. Abedi Pele were present to bring in their full support during the event. Mr. Alhassan Andani, MD of Stanbic Bank, the Canadian High Commissioner for Ghana, Mr. Dareen Schemmer, a former Nigerian football legend, Mr. Shegun Odegbami and the Deputy Managing Director of Metropolitan Television, Mr. Alhassan Haruna supported the occasion with their presence.

The event was proudly sponsored by Stanbic Bank, Fan Milk, Ice Cool Water and Canadian High Commission in Ghana.

3 Hermann Gmeiner Schools Pupils attend UN Program.