"Swap the gun for job and sports" campaign kicks off in Mogadishu

SYL 2nd Chairman, Farah Ali Jilao, told a press conference in Mogadishu Saturday that the youth body is concentrating on two main important goals: to protect the Somali youths from being involved in criminal acts and the other is to create jobs for them and teach them sport.

“The future of Somali youths has dived into darkness, because of the lack of jobs created by the prolonged civil wars and lawlessness in Somalia, so we are weighting to save them from this precarious situation” Mr. Jilao told reporters.

He said that since its foundation late in 2008, SYL 2nd has achieved to collect more than 105 young boys including street children whose parents died in civil wars, child soldiers and some from poorer families who were taught different job skills.

“As you know, war-mongers and other criminals derive advantage from the hard times in Somalia by recruiting street children and those from the poorer families and instead we are collecting and creating jobs for them to  get them out from the hands of these notorious criminals” Mr. Jilao told the press conference.

“Sport is another very important factor, so we have established our own football team and we have talented coaches to teach them football two days in each week and we are very grateful to Somali Football Federation who is assisting us in this part of sport” he added.

He said that the recently initiated campaign "swap the gun for job and sport“has yielded very positive results and will be spread into the regions outside Mogadishu in the near future.

Earlier in the week, SYL 2nd implemented in Mogadishu a youth empowerment workshop for more than 50 young men and women and during the workshop very useful ideas and discussions were exchanged.

Elders, intellectuals, revered clerics and high-ranking sports dignitaries including Somali Football Federation (SFF) president addressed at the opening of the workshop which intended to encourage youths from taking up guns or falling into other kinds of crimes.

“Somali Youth League is doing a good job in the chaotic country and on behalf of my Somali Football Federation I pledge that SFF will help them in terms of educating the youths in football” SFF President Said Mahmoud Nur told journalists.

Somali Youth League was the youth organization that scored Somalia’s independence in 1960 and dismantled after independence, but late in 2008 a group if young men lead by Chairman Farah Ali Jilao achieved in reforming SYL 2nd which is working to help Somali youths get out of the difficulties they have been experiencing for the past two decades.

Somalia fell into anarchy in 1991 and war-mongers have been using young boys as firewood to flame civil wars in Somalia. More than half a million people mainly civilians and recruited children were killed in Somalia’s dirty struggle since then.