Day 10 - refugee camp football tournament

Today was our second day at the refugee camp. They had asked us to arrange some activities for an afternoon and we decided on a sports day and craft activities. I was to be in charge of the sport. I had bought equipment for football, ultimate frisbee and three legged racing. However when I got there two of these would be redundant.
On our arrival we were greeted by a young Serbian boy who had learnt English very fast and spoke it very well. He presented me with three slips of paper. Each had teams on and they were divided by home nationality: Afghanistan, Kurdistan and Africa/Serbia. The only team missing was ours so Sandor and I created a World VI.
The football then began with Kurdistan vs Afghanistan and it quickly dawned how serious this football tournament would become. The guys playing football were playing for national pride and they played hard and ran until their lungs hurt. Kurdistan battled harder in he first half and were up 2-0. One of the goals was controversial as they claimed it struck a hand, but the referee... Me... Wasn't paying attention so allowed the goal. The second half was one way traffic from Afghanistan an they clawed it back to win 3-2. After the game I talked to a the goalie of the victorious Afghan team. He was a journalist in Afghanistan but had left because of the brush tarnished across all free media by the taliban, his best friend had been beheaded for being a sports writer. He had fled the country and found a home in the refugee camp. He had been in Hungary for 5 years, been granted a European visa , had married a Hungarian woman and had a baby due in 2 weeks. He said the refugee camp was a good temporary home whilst he saved for a home with his new family, and as he was free to travel wherever he wanted, it was no longer a camp but a 'very basic hotel'. This surprised me but I could also understand his view, and again highlighted that the refugee camp wasn't as bad as one would think.
Game two was the World VI vs Africa/Serbia, time for Sandor and I to show what Hungary and Britain could do in a serious tournament, along with a mix of Afghan, African and Kurdistan players in our team that were forcibly roped in to play by their peers. It was going really well until the kick off... Then it was one way traffic of incredible skill, much better than I could have expected. We held out as long as possible but the inevitable came with 3 goals against us, but I did score one consolatory goal, so 3-1 it ended. It turns out that at least 3 of there 6 had tried to get to Europe to play football professionally... One of the guys looked exactly like Emmanuel Adebayor and played like him to.
There was a short break as the younger kids had a game which was very good to watch, then the tournament continued. Africa/Serbia winning the competition, followed by Afghanistan in second, Kurdistan third and the World VI finishing a humble 4th/last.
It was a really great day filled with really interesting interactions with the different nationalities. The tension was high on the pitch, with some racist remarks banded about and fights being threatened, but this happens in any tournament in football, and racism is common (John Terry's impending case being he most recent). After the match they were pleasant enough to each other but split into their geographical groups once more. It struck me that the refugee camp was a place like many others, where communities of many different cultures and religions are thrown together and are forced to get along. Perhaps this environment is a good learning environment for the refugees, who may have come from a very specific culture with no diversity. In the real world multi-culturalism is rife, even in Hungary, so to learn it before you are made a citizen may be a massive benefit to the refugees.