Being the positive change

Shegofa Hassani is a facilitator with Creating Chances and Project Coordinator for the Arezo Project. She began her journey as the captain for the team during the Football For Hope Festival in 2014. For Shegofa, seeing people from around the world come together to share their culture, and to share the work they did, was a powerful moment that she remembers to this day.

“I was very young, about 17/18, looking back on it, it opened my eyes to how people are around the world, the struggles that they have, and how the organisations they have, make a change.”

She recalls how there were teams without girls participating and was struck by the fact that the festival used football to encourage girls to get involved. “I found that inspiring. There is this belief that girls don’t play sport in my culture, and I found it very inspiring to see people wanting to make a change about it.”

Shegofa was drawn to work within the ‘football for good’ world initially through playing football but over time, the support from the Creating Chances team inspired her to further develop her skills in leadership.

“I gained confidence to speak in public, and I’m probably still very nervous about it, but being part of a corporation to be better and step out of your comfort zone makes that worth it.”

Shegofa wants to be a positive force in the industry to pass on the skill set and values she has learnt during her time here. “Just as people in my life influenced me in my life to step out of my comfort zone, to follow my dreams, I hope to do the same with young people that I’m working with, whether it’s related to football or not I hope to be a positive change, and to have someone look back and say that person helped or that person was someone to look up to.”

She believes that some people don't always see their potential. The aim for Shegofa is to give people “opportunities so that they can reach their maximum potential.”

Shegofa thinks that due to the issues young people face, they need more opportunities through programs like Creating Chances to help guide them to reach their goals. She says, “Kids are dealing with a lot of things these days, the more support they have, the more supported they feel. So I would like to see them be more supported, to then support themselves.”