Reports: Bulgaria

Segun Philips manages the Jutvari youth football team and pastors the church in the Stolipinovo ghetto in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Born in the slums of Lagos, Nigeria with eight brothers and sisters, Segun became a professional footballer before his career was cut short by injury. He is married to Joanna, with three young children, Rebecca, David and Michael. They live in a typical decrepit “Soviet” style tower block apartment.

The ghetto comprises of marginalised ethnic Roma gypsies and Turkish Bulgarians and over 95% are Moslem. It has a high crime rate, enormous poverty and most “white” Bulgarians are afraid to enter it.

Following a fruitful Spearhead tent mission in 2006 a youth football team was started with Segun as manager. It is expensive to run a youth football in Bulgaria. Every boy requires a full medical at the start of the season, a doctor is in attendance at every match and the referees and assistants are all fully qualified. Many of the matches involve a lot of travelling. Most outsiders expected the Jutvari team to fail in a short space of time. The calender below shows they were wrong!

Segun is more than a manager. He is a father to most of these Roma boys. Despite racial prejudice and limited financial resources the team has prospered. Segun and the team are featured in a short film.

Jutvari can only afford to run one league team. This season the older boys are standing aside to allow a new younger team to get league experience. There is also a group of even younger boys keen to play as they get older. Every player must attend school and many lives are being impacted.

Segun is motivated by his faith in Jesus and through this faith, and out of his personal journey, he has so much to give not only the boys but also the adults in the ghetto. The Jutvari church that he leads, which includes some of the boys, is growing.

by Martin Wade