The football season will soon draw to a close as school starts up again. Teams are playing their final championship in the cooler evenings, and it’s a real pleasure to see their enthusiasm. The uniforms, shoes, and balls you’ve provided will be stored and brought out again next season when it comes time to play again.
We spoke to one of the league leaders, a young man of just 20 named Simone, about how the season has been. Here’s what he had to say:
Is football important to people? Why or why not?
Football is very important. It takes away the stresses of everyday life. If you have problems, you start to play and you forget about your worries. For those of us living in the camp, we have lots of stresses.
Have you seen football affect the lives of the players? How has it affected them?
Yes. I have seen a lot of kids who were troubled, hanging out on the streets and up to no good. But when they started to play football and had something to occupy their time, they made friendships and developed a sense of community.
On behalf of Simone and all his friends, we’d like to thank you for your support.
With football in Haiti complete, we’ll be changing the purpose of this page slightly. We’ll be using it to collect funds for youth led initiatives in disaster zones worldwide – not just football in Haiti.
We hope that you’ll join us in our continuing efforts to support Haitian youth like Simone and youth worldwide affected by disaster.
One last time, thanks so much for all you’ve done to support Haitian earthquake affected youths.
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Hello all!
We hope this finds you well?
After months of working with players to clear local fields, find registration money, and organize local leagues play has now started! The work to clear the fields, some of which have been used as trash dumps, was hot, dirty, and tiring. But when we see the pictures of these kids, in the uniforms which your donations provided, we know that it was worth it.
The opportunity to play gives these young people something to look forward to every day. For those facing an uncertain future, the value of that hope can’t be overstated.
While it’s great to see these teams in motion, there are still hundreds of youths who are not playing because they don’t have uniforms, shoes, or a safe field. We still need donations to get these youths involved in the game, and until August 17th, you can help us find the funds we need without spending a dime.
EDV’s photo has been nominated as a finalist in Global Giving’s photo contest. The winning photo will be the one that receives the most votes on Facebook. Voting is a simple, three step process:
If you’re not on Facebook, you can still share this information with friends and family who are, or just make a donation through this page.
Thank you so much for all you’ve already done to support young people who love sport in Port au Prince, and our warmest regards from Haiti.
Photo Credit: Dorota Oleksiewicz
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Hello all,
We hope this finds you well!
It’s hard to believe that it’s mid-June already! Just a few short months ago, we were meeting with league leaders and simply trying to understand how those leagues would be organised. Today, we’re making final preparations for the start of the football season.
Thanks to donors like you, we already have more than two dozen pairs of shoes, several sets of uniforms, and more than 20 footballs. While the teams still need more materials, we’re off to a great start!
As more volunteers come down to work with us, and the football programme, they continue to be impressed with the joy that football brings to these young people. Rachel, a new volunteer, recently shared her experience of the first football game she witnessed.
Last week, I arrived in Haiti for a two month stay as a volunteer. Like any new arrival in Haiti, I have been incessantly bombarded by the harsh realities of life here: barely navigable streets; undrinkable water (even for the locals); constant fear of disease and illness; and sky-high unemployment. Finding joy and excitement, where struggle and poverty are a way of life seemed unlikely. But in a recent walk through the mud-filled streets of a neighboring “kan”, or Internally Displace Persons (IDP) Camp, just blocks from my boarding house, joy is just what I found!
Among the long faces that typically accompany camp life, sounds of happiness were emanating from a muddy field full of smiling and laughing football players (football in Haiti is soccer to Americans). Young people of all ages were gathered to play and watch.
A brief conversation with an English-speaking spectator informed me that this game was an informal one, but that the boys are ramping up for what they hope will be a successful and competitive summer of league play. Standing on the sidelines of a game where the boys, many of them too poor to even attend school, are playing without shin guards, shoes, or uniforms on a muddy and uneven field, the concept of an organized and successful league seemed very hard to imagine.
So, I decided to find out more about these leagues and why they are so important to a community that is barely managing to meet its basic needs…
Rachel will be managing a weekly blog this summer about the football league, so she’ll have plenty of time to learn all she wants!
These kids would not be playing without your generous support, and we’re hoping that you’ll continue to support soccer in Port au Prince by taking advantage of Global Giving’s Matching day on June 15th. Global Giving will be matching all donations of up to $1,000 by 30%, and the organsiation which raises the most will win an extra bonus! Please continue supporting those who need it most by giving what you can on June 15th or spreading the word about our project.
One last time, thanks so much for your generous donation, and warm regards from Haiti.
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With just a few weeks left until the start of the soccer season, we’re excited about the enthusiasm of the local teams as they prepare their fields, start to practice, and organise their leagues.
That organisation of leagues has led to quite a change! This is the league’s first season since the earthquake, and they’d like to put all the difficulties of 2010 behind them by making this the biggest soccer season they possibly can, and that means a lot more teams. They’d like to see more than 900 youths playing on almost 100 teams.
With your support, we’ll be able to get these kids playing soccer in Haiti, giving them a positive outlet this summer and reminding them that even though more than a year has passed since the earthquake, we haven’t forgotten them.
Until May 20th, it’s even easier than usual to support community football in Haiti. During Global Giving’s Recurring Donation Challenge, any recurring donation you make gives us the possibility of winning up to $2,500!
Just $10 a month from you might mean we win more than $2,500, so please dig deep and give what you can. If you can’t make a contribution, you could still help by letting friends and family know about the Recurring Donation Challenge.
Regardless of whether or not you’re able to make a recurring donation, your support continues to inspire us. Thanks so much for all you’ve done, and warm regards from Haiti.
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The community recently came together to hold an informal football weekend in honour of one of our volunteers, Tanya, who came to Haiti and brought uniforms, shoes, and footballs for the teams.
The weekend was not a typical tournament – instead it involved only a few teams playing over just four days. It was a pleasure to see the different team leaders coming together to watch children and young adults play ball.
What’s more, these team leaders often live far from one and other. While the issues they face in their communities may be similar, they never meet to discuss them and find common solutions.
Football tournaments, even if they take place only over a few days, give these young people an occasion to come together, get to know each other, and start to break down barriers. These connections build stronger individuals and communities.
This small tournament also reminded us how much we still have to accomplish before the teams kick back into high gear in June. Over the summer, all the teams will play several times every week, and they’ll all need uniforms, shoes, footballs, and first aid kits.
Your support has made this special weekend possible, and we hope that your on-going support will make this summer an exciting time for youths who have lost so much in the past year.
If you have friends and family who might want to help, don’t hesitate to use the “Tell a Friend” feature on this page. And if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email Media@EDVolunteers.org.
Thanks so much for your support, and warmest regards from Haiti!
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