Goal Of Life, our most eagerly awaited annual event, is an effort to bring a better life to the children who live on Delhi's streets. Initiated in 2002, soccer was seen as a medium to enable underprivileged children living in urban slums all over the city to come and play together, combining the development of their talent with the inculcation of a sense of unity of purpose and positive harmony in relationships.

The last few years have seen teams from as many as 24 NGOs come together at Raghubir Singh Modern School to participate in a FIFA game style format of knockouts and finals rounded up by nail biting finishes that continue to leave the spectators spellbound! The first edition of Goal of life in 2002 had the privilege of being inaugurated by the Indian Football Team led by the then coach Stephen Constantine and captain Baichung Bhutia!

Goal of Life has also emerged as a field for creative expression, the football matches are interspersed with sit-and-draw competitions for school children and cultural events organised by NGOs and colleges. The total number of attendees rose to 400 in 2004; roughly double the number who attended in 2002. Besides football, the highlight of 2004 was a Dussehra Mela in which over 30 NGOs participated. While some of the stalls were educational there were others that featured a variety of products ranging from trendy jute bags to foodstuffs.

Evolving with time, Goal Of Life 2005 was an effort to rid the game of the proverbial 'winners' and 'losers' element, by doing away with the competitive format of NGO-based teams and mixing up the teams to balance players, who were as a result able to work better on their talents. The newly-devised league format included training and practice time for the young players. The vision was to combine the development of their talent with the inculcation of a sense of unity of purpose and positive harmony in relationships. Kutumb created pools of four NGOs, out of which balanced teams were created. In this process children from at least 4 NGOs formed each team. The teams were given interesting names, such as Jaanbaaz, Khatra, Khoonkhar and Qayamat. Kutumb's volunteers conducted training and leagues for these children through four weekends of September and the first weekend of October. Running through September and culminating on 9th October 2005, the aim of this new Goal of Life was to work on confidence, strategy and team skills of the child.

In a wonderful act granting recognition to the role that Goal of Life has played in enhancing the importance of football in the lives of underprivileged children, the Premier India Football Academy sponsored seven children from the tournament to be part of a soccer workshop conducted by the Bobby Charlton Academy from England. This was an unprecedented opportunity for the children and we at The Kutumb Foundation are happy and proud to have been selected for this honour.

Goal of life has only been successful because of the cooperation of partner NGOs and the constant support of various individuals and corporates, such as Lakhani Shoes, the American Soya Bean Association, Crayola, Hershey's, and UTI Bank. We look forward to a day when all corporates will come forward to contribute to social uplift as a part of company policy.

The venue for the event this year will again be R.S. Junior Modern School, Humayun Road. Assistance of any kind towards the event will be welcome.