Raeanne (left) with other youngsters participating in the F4F programme
Young Caymanian promotes global “good news”
By Lindsey Turnbull
Young football players and young journalists have teamed up around the globe to bring some good news to the world in a multicultural online broadcast, as a pleasing interlude from the doom and gloom news that Covid-19 has brought. Fourteen-year-old Caymanian Raeanne Leticia Ebanks-Hydes is the broadcast’s North America correspondent, representing the Cayman Islands with her short piece on fresh air music teacher Vito Biliti, joining children from places such as Guyana, Russia and Spain.
The broadcast was recently launched by the Good News Editorial Office of Gazprom’s International Children’s Social programme - Football For Friendship (F4F).
F4F’s organising committee said that Raeanne participated in the F4F programme in 2018.
“Raeanne was a participant of Football for Friendship 2018 that took place in Moscow and she opens the fourth episode of Good News,” they advised. “We think she did very well and she is not afraid of being creative which is very important too. In her video, after saying her news, she catches a football ball; we didn’t include it in the episode but we took this fragment for a film we will be creating by the end of the season. And she has already sent news for the next episode, so we will see her soon in Good News.”
Football for Friendship was started in 2013. Participants of the programme are young players and young journalists – girls and boys aged 12, including children with disabilities. Young players participate in mixed teams, where they represent different countries, learn how to play together, and show what the world would be like without war and discrimination, they explained. Young journalists cover the events of the programme in the International Children’s Press Center and promote universal human values.
Football for Friendship is supported by UEFA, FIFA, the International Olympic Committee, football federations, and the world’s leading football clubs, international charity funds, famous athletes, politicians and artists. The project has received many national and international awards in the field of social responsibility, sports, and communications. Over the previous seven seasons, the programme has covered 211 countries and regions, united more than 6,000 participants, and gained more than 5 million supporters. In 2019, Football for Friendship set a world record and obtained the Guinness World Records® title for the most nationalities in a football training session in history.
Each year Football for Friendship takes place wherever the UEFA Champion’s League final is held.
“Due to the situation with Covid-19, our final events were postponed,” the committee explained. “But this year will be different; soon we will announce a new format for this year. Following the situation all around the world, we understood that we could do something useful even while staying at home, we can support all the world with good news created by children. Most of the correspondents are the participants of 2018 season. We also have a couple of newcomers: some of them found the information on the Internet and wanted to join us. Also, we invited schools of journalism and different media for kids (newspapers, magazines, radio, TV) to support us.”
For the Good News broadcast, children chose their personal topics of interest, which are often football, sports, music, culture and ecology, the committee said. Raeanne’s news was about music, the next one will be about sports.
This campaign was specially made for social networks, so the broadcasts are posted on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
You can find Raeanne’s news piece at 0:19 on the following social media:
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Debra Larmond
03 Jun, 2020The sky is the limit.
keep reaching for it.
We are proud of you
The Larmonds