<div><div>They all wake up by 3.30 am and by 4 they have to be on the ground with their kits. No, we are not talking about young Army recruits. Nor about students at a strict boarding school. These are the ‘angels’ of My Angels Academy.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Situated in a densely populated slum in west Delhi’s Vikaspuri, the academy is giving wings to the imagination of around 130 slum kids.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>“This is a place where the children of a rickshaw-puller and rag-picker can dream like any other city kid of their age,” says Sylvester Peter, the man behind the academy.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>If Peter is the captain of the academy’s ship, guiding it for the last three decades, football has to be its engine.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>“Vivekananda was not a fool when he said, ‘Don’t pray, go and play football’. So he had something in his mind which I realised about this sport in my life,” Peter says.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>“How will you teach a kid to handle defeat and disappointments in life? Suppose this boy is sitting calmly here without any problem. I can’t teach him the true meaning of peace. Only when he will be in a situation of turmoil and emerge from it successfully can he realise the true meaning of peace. All these dynamics are there in football,” Peter adds.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Girls and boys in the age group of 5 to 22 play football five days a week. Some of them are so good that they have been selected for major football academies of the world.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>In fact, officials of FC Barcelona visited the slum for a tour, and England’s West Brom FC sent signed jerseys of their players to the academy’s kids. It’s an irony that this is the same slum, some of whose residents, juveniles included, were involved in the murder of Dr Pankaj Narang on March 23.</div><div><br /></div></div><div>“They could have also gone on the same path. Ninety per cent of my angels were</div><div><div>beggars, 20-30 per cent were drug addicts,” Peter says. Some 10-20 per cent of them were vulnerable to religious fundamentalism, according to Peter.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>It was a long and gradual process to wean the kids from the life of child labour, begging and drugs. Peter faced many hurdles and ruffled many feathers on his way to fulfil his dream of opening the door of hope and opportunities for these underprivileged kids.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>“The biggest challenge came from the parents themselves who were initially sceptical about my motives. The name Sylvester also didn’t help as they suspected whether I am into religion conversion. They were also not happy with children turning away from their usual chores,” Peter says.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Gradually when the kids of the academy and their work started to get noticed, the attitude of the parents around Peter and the academy also changed.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>The academy, operating from a small rented room in the slum, has achieved what many elite international schools aspire for. In fact, management institutes such as IIM Lucknow and FMS Delhi have done case studies on it.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>The academy has been able to provide a new lease of life to many of these kids. They have won matches against top professional clubs, won tournaments like the one sponsored by Manchester United in Delhi in 2013 and the World Football Indoor Tournament, 2014.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Apart from academics and sports, the children are made familiar with different aspects of life such as personal hygiene, sex education and gender equality.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Gender equality is one of the key lessons that Sylvester wants his academy kids to imbibe. So girls, too, are trained in football, and they have their separate team.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Some are also taught classical dance, yoga, and are even learning fashion designing. But, of course, pressure from parents and relatives often leads them to quit midway.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>“Yes, girls do play football, but they find it difficult to continue. Typically, parents allow a girl child to play till 6 or 7, and then the restrictions start. They are forced to carry out the chores at home, or help their mothers in their work. It can get really challenging sometimes,” Peter says.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Funded solely by Peter, his friends and siblings, the academy has just a small rented room in the Indira Camp slum. Following the media coverage on the academy, Peter got many sponsors from private companies and individuals but he refused all of them as, according to him, their offers came with “strings attached”.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>“Either they wanted to promote their interest in the guise of sponsoring the academy or they were not committed enough to our cause. Currently, the only help that we have only got is in the form of a mini bus from IndianOil, for parking which we have to go all the way to Dwarka,” says Peter.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>For him, the dream doesn’t end with My Angels Academy – that’s only a start, albeit a good one. He intends to travel to different parts of India to select students for his academy – and even set up branches in the rural areas.</div><div><br /></div></div><div>“This is just not a project for me but my life, i will continue this journey what may come and after me my angels will take it up. The academy is an idea which should live on as long as there is even a single underprivileged child is in the world,” Peter says.</div></div>
<div><div>They all wake up by 3.30 am and by 4 they have to be on the ground with their kits. No, we are not talking about young Army recruits. Nor about students at a strict boarding school. These are the ‘angels’ of My Angels Academy.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Situated in a densely populated slum in west Delhi’s Vikaspuri, the academy is giving wings to the imagination of around 130 slum kids.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>“This is a place where the children of a rickshaw-puller and rag-picker can dream like any other city kid of their age,” says Sylvester Peter, the man behind the academy.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>If Peter is the captain of the academy’s ship, guiding it for the last three decades, football has to be its engine.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>“Vivekananda was not a fool when he said, ‘Don’t pray, go and play football’. So he had something in his mind which I realised about this sport in my life,” Peter says.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>“How will you teach a kid to handle defeat and disappointments in life? Suppose this boy is sitting calmly here without any problem. I can’t teach him the true meaning of peace. Only when he will be in a situation of turmoil and emerge from it successfully can he realise the true meaning of peace. All these dynamics are there in football,” Peter adds.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Girls and boys in the age group of 5 to 22 play football five days a week. Some of them are so good that they have been selected for major football academies of the world.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>In fact, officials of FC Barcelona visited the slum for a tour, and England’s West Brom FC sent signed jerseys of their players to the academy’s kids. It’s an irony that this is the same slum, some of whose residents, juveniles included, were involved in the murder of Dr Pankaj Narang on March 23.</div><div><br /></div></div><div>“They could have also gone on the same path. Ninety per cent of my angels were</div><div><div>beggars, 20-30 per cent were drug addicts,” Peter says. Some 10-20 per cent of them were vulnerable to religious fundamentalism, according to Peter.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>It was a long and gradual process to wean the kids from the life of child labour, begging and drugs. Peter faced many hurdles and ruffled many feathers on his way to fulfil his dream of opening the door of hope and opportunities for these underprivileged kids.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>“The biggest challenge came from the parents themselves who were initially sceptical about my motives. The name Sylvester also didn’t help as they suspected whether I am into religion conversion. They were also not happy with children turning away from their usual chores,” Peter says.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Gradually when the kids of the academy and their work started to get noticed, the attitude of the parents around Peter and the academy also changed.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>The academy, operating from a small rented room in the slum, has achieved what many elite international schools aspire for. In fact, management institutes such as IIM Lucknow and FMS Delhi have done case studies on it.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>The academy has been able to provide a new lease of life to many of these kids. They have won matches against top professional clubs, won tournaments like the one sponsored by Manchester United in Delhi in 2013 and the World Football Indoor Tournament, 2014.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Apart from academics and sports, the children are made familiar with different aspects of life such as personal hygiene, sex education and gender equality.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Gender equality is one of the key lessons that Sylvester wants his academy kids to imbibe. So girls, too, are trained in football, and they have their separate team.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Some are also taught classical dance, yoga, and are even learning fashion designing. But, of course, pressure from parents and relatives often leads them to quit midway.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>“Yes, girls do play football, but they find it difficult to continue. Typically, parents allow a girl child to play till 6 or 7, and then the restrictions start. They are forced to carry out the chores at home, or help their mothers in their work. It can get really challenging sometimes,” Peter says.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Funded solely by Peter, his friends and siblings, the academy has just a small rented room in the Indira Camp slum. Following the media coverage on the academy, Peter got many sponsors from private companies and individuals but he refused all of them as, according to him, their offers came with “strings attached”.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>“Either they wanted to promote their interest in the guise of sponsoring the academy or they were not committed enough to our cause. Currently, the only help that we have only got is in the form of a mini bus from IndianOil, for parking which we have to go all the way to Dwarka,” says Peter.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>For him, the dream doesn’t end with My Angels Academy – that’s only a start, albeit a good one. He intends to travel to different parts of India to select students for his academy – and even set up branches in the rural areas.</div><div><br /></div></div><div>“This is just not a project for me but my life, i will continue this journey what may come and after me my angels will take it up. The academy is an idea which should live on as long as there is even a single underprivileged child is in the world,” Peter says.</div></div>
