Providing ongoing support for a team of refugees to play soccer in a local men’s league to build community, bridge cultures and develop networks for navigating a new and unfamiliar world in the US.
Feeling at home in a strange land is hard, and harder still for refugees who have not left home by choice. Very few things can bridge culture, country, religion, politics or language the way soccer can. Soccer may provide a stage for conflict and drama, as any true soccer fan knows, but fortunately it is a markedly different kind of conflict and drama than many refugees have faced in their lives. Our soccer program gives refugees a sense of community, an escape and a small reminder of home.
By building an active and organized soccer program, local refugees can find a common language (in soccer) and a place of community as they build new lives in an unfamiliar place.
The soccer program will allow refugees to find a sense of community, an escape and a reminder of home. Building an ongoing soccer program for local refugees will allow a welcoming point of entry for new refugees on an ongoing basis.
