Homeless Chennai girl refused Mexico visa, dropped from ‘Street Child Football World Cup’

CHENNAI: In a disheartening turn of events, a 15-year-old homeless girl in Chennai had been refused a visa to participate in the Street Child Football World Cup (SCWC) to be held in Mexico. The Embassy of Mexico allegedly rejected the visa, citing a lack of documents.

Ahead of the FIFA World Cup, the Street Child Football World Cup is held every four years at the same venue. This year, 29 teams from across the globe (16 girls’ and 13 boys’ teams) will participate in the event.

For this, the Chennai girls’ football team and the Punjab boys’ team will be representing India. And, the Indian teams have left for SCWC on Tuesday evening.

From Chennai, ten girls were selected; however, V Srimathi was not among them, even though she had been actively preparing to participate in SCWC.

N Paul Sunder Singh, secretary of Karunalaya, a shelter for homeless girls working alongside the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) said, “Availing a passport for Srimathi was a hectic task in itself. As the birth certificate issued by the Chengalpattu government hospital misgendered her as a boy instead of a girl. We spent at least eight months rectifying these documents and applying for the passport.”

But, Paul says, the ordeal did not stop there, as the Karunalaya team had to scout for the two parents who had disowned their daughters. “Three girls – Poongothai, Sharmila (both sisters) and Srimathi faced issues with the embassy in particular, as they demanded a power of attorney document from their parents. Though after a quick search, we were able to track Poongothai and Sharmila’s father, but Srimathi’s mother remains untraceable,” he lamented.

Srimathi had been disowned by both her parents, who are homeless themselves. However, she was rescued when she was 10 and brought to Karunalaya last year, from where she developed an interest towards football.

Calling rejection of visa an injustice, Paul added, “The Mexican embassy refused to give Srimathi a visa as they wanted a custody order from the court. They did not accept the Child Welfare Committee’s (CWC) order of placement with Karunalaya. A poor child who deserves to participate in the World Cup has been refused a visa. This is in violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.”

But Srimathi, who helped her friends pack and continues to practice every morning, said, “A similar situation should not arise for another child who is living in the street. Yes, I’ve been deprived of an opportunity, but I’ll continue to practice."