Transcript
SHELDON YETT: Well I think the most important to keep in mind is even though the cyclones have fallen from the headlines the impact on children is still there. Talking to teachers, talking to children themselves, they all bring back memories of these horrible events. Talking to one child she was very very open about the impact of just seeing her family disappear, her housing, her belongings just disappear out the door and kids remember that, the psychological impact of huge events like this remain long after the event itself falls off the front pages.
KOROI HAWKINS: What effect is it that your programme has on addressing some of these issues or aims to have?
SY: I think a number of issues, one is that it helps reset the emotional well-being of children a sense of normalcy so to speak, often kids will just hark back to traumatic events, this helps them have fun and also learn other life skills, that are important for keeping them safe and also important for ensuring that they survive and do well in the next emergency. Skills like what to do if your water gets contaminated, skills in the importance of working with others and self confidence and resiliency is required.
KH: The core platform that this is based on, the Oceania Confederation Just Play initiative, how do you work in those messages?
SY: That's right, we're working through the Oceania Football Club and the Fiji Football Club and we're giving basic life skill messages. It's one thing for kids to recite index cards or reference from a blackboard it's something else for them to internalise messages by having fun. So when dribbling a ball down a field they can learn about working with a team-mate, there's certain lessons built in to each little skillset that they learn on the field. It's a way to combine football and life skills. It's perfect for kids. It's one of the best ways that kids learn, when kids don't think they're actually learning, when they're having fun.
KH: In Fiji you wrapped up the Just Play emergency programme over the weekend, where to from here?
SY: Well we continue building on the foundations we set here, one of the great things about this programme is that it's worked through a network of volunteers across the country. Almost 400 volunteers are working in those communities that have been most heavily affected. They're going to continue doing their work day after day after day, it's one thing for efforts to be led by government, it's something else for efforts to be led by the communities themselves. We've learned in emergencies around the world that when communities themselves take charge, long term change happens and long term good happens and I think we're going to be able to build off the great work that these volunteers have already put in place.
KH: Are you looking at reproducing this project in other Pacific countries should disasters happen in the future?
SY: Oh absolutely, we know this region is very very disaster prone, and the Just Play programme is already ongoing in 11 countries in the region but I think we can learn a lot from the success in Fiji, the success of really using volunteers everyday in the process and taking volunteers from specifically those communities most affected, that's what makes a difference and these are the kinds of lessons that we can bring to other countries that are using the programme.
