Fairtrade Soccer Ball

Buy a ball, give a ball
For every one of these Etiko Fairtrade soccer balls sold through Oxfam Shop a ball is given to an orphaned or abandoned child in one of the SOS Children's Villages in Pakistan. The SOS villages offer the children a new life in a family-like environment until they have the education and skills to live independently.

Hand made in Pakistan with no child labour. Official size 5. Produced to FIFA standards, they are also compliant to Fair Trade rules.

All stitchers receive a wage that enables them to provide basic necessities for their families, without having to rely on sending their children to work. They and their families also receive comprehensive medical care and have access to a micro-credit scheme, which is also available to the wider community.

Move over cricket, soccer’s here
Soccer in cricket-mad Pakistan? It's happening in a children's village in northeast Pakistan thanks to Oxfam Shop customers and a Melbourne sports company. Melbourne based Etiko Sports director Nick Savaidis has delivered 1,000 soccer balls to the SOS Sialkot village and the children are wild about the gift. The gift was made on the basis of one ball being given for every Etiko soccer ball sold through Oxfam Shop Australia-wide. Etiko will continue making similar gifts on the basis of the number of soccer balls sold through Oxfam Shops.

The Sialkot village is one of eight SOS communities providing a family-like environment for orphaned and abandoned children in Pakistan. The parents of almost half the children died in the devastating earthquake that struck the border of India and Pakistan in 2005. The villages are privately funded and are established on land donated by provincial governments. Delivering the balls to Pakistan, Nick Savaidis found boys and girls living in communal houses, each of them with a carer.

"The facilities were impressive, well organised and spotlessly clean and there is a school on site with seven teachers where the children are trained for future careers," Mr Savaidis said.
"The balls made the kids so happy and they could hardly wait to try them out on the field. Two boys from the village are in Pakistan's national youth soccer team and the gift is sure to increase the children’s enthusiasm for the game."

 As featured on 'Mornings with Kerri-Anne',