Eoin

Osama, a 33-year-old member of the Street Soccer NI team is heading to the Homeless World Cup in Sacramento, California this July.

When studying electrical engineering at college in 2010, in his home country of Ethiopia, Eskander took part in a student protest to oppose the treatment of the Oromo people: a large minority ethnic group who have been subject to political oppression and state violence. The military arrived and opened fire on the protest group and arrested forty to fifty students – Eskander was one of those students. From there, and without his family’s knowledge, he was sent to an underground prison and was tortured.

James became homeless after the breakdown of his long-term relationship. Despite having a steady, full-time job, as he was originally from England, he had no support-network here in NI. Moving back to his hometown was not an option for James, as his children, job and friends were here, he had built a life and didn’t want to lose that along with his home.