Football became a tool to start conversations
Anyier is the Business Development Executive for Creating Chances. The partnerships Anyier cultivates help to spread awareness about the work Creating Chances does in Sydney, New South Wales, and beyond. She additionally advocates for diversity and inclusion in her personal work.
Anyier took part in the Football United Program as a player, at the World Cup in 2010. She has been involved with the Football United program since she was young. After suffering an injury at the festival she was no longer able to participate in the physical aspects of the program, but still attended the activities and workshops.
Anyier (second from left, back row) in South Africa in 2010
Through this experience, she began to understand that what she was “engaging with was more than the football itself, it was beyond the football.” She recalls these transformative moments where she was “excited” to be playing and “getting involved in a festival”, but, “beyond that, you realise that the festivals and the football are more than just playing the game on the field, and it is what is centered around it and what happened that makes it more of a success, that will make it a journey to talk about.”
Anyier and Areti (2010)
Anyier found the tools to discuss the social justice issues she felt strongly about through the workshops at the Festival.
“It empowered me to really be able to have conversations about issues I would see that were happening and you really get the Festivals to teach you those skills. It gets you to connect to other communities and other young people and be able to understand where everyone is coming from and what types of different issues everyone faces in their different communities.”
Some of those issues are, “the lack of inclusion,” and, “the lack of gender equality.”
Having these issues be addressed “from a woman’s perspective, and a young girl’s perspective,” enabled her to address these issues in her community. Anyier felt the shift in “football becoming more than on the pitch for me. It became a tool to empower, a tool to have conversations about significant concepts that I was passionate about. It also provided a stepping stone for Anyier to understand gender equality and enact her vision for young girls in her community. Through participating in workshops at the festival she was able to develop skills in leadership and conflict resolution which taught her to communicate her purpose, mission, and vision.
Anyier founded Miss Sahara, a Social Enterprise that celebrates the diversity of Women of African Heritage in Australia
Anyier hopes to see opportunities for everyone in the future. She thinks “people need to remove their biases and create opportunities without putting barriers”.
If she could see one change she would want people
“to be more reflective of their own privileges and see how they can create more paths and more opportunities for those who don’t have a space to belong because everyone feels that if you don't see yourself in a certain area then you don't feel represented.”
Anyier’s advocacy is an inspirational dedication to social impact for good, and she feels Creating Chances is the perfect place to do this at: “I truly believe in the work that they do and that’s why I’m still here.”