7.03.2013

Soccer Beyond Borders-Haiti Day Five

Haiti Day Five




                The start of our journey began at 5:15 in the morning when it was still pitch dark.  After making sandwiches and packing all the gear and water, we left New Life with 11 New Life Children and traveled to Respire, Haiti.  The ride was quiet on the bus, but the city of Port-au-Prince was very much alive.  After capturing a few embarrassing photographs of team members sleeping, we arrived!  In order to prepare for the festivities of the day, we had to sort the players’ gear into individual bags to efficiently and effectively distribute without causing chaos.  Each team received 18 of the individual bags and the goalie also received goalie gloves and shirts.  Each coach received a coaching soccer bag with cones and a clipboard.  Each team received a bag of balls, one of the soccer balls was the Mission Ball and the other was the “indestructible” One World Soccer Ball. The tournament to be played consisted of eight total teams, four under 12 boys and four under 17 boys.  Prior to the start of the under 12 and under 17 games, Pastor Bob shared with the players a message from the scriptures, which was written on the Mission Ball Soccer Ball we provided with each team.  The purpose of this was to remind the players and the community why we came to see them and spend time with them: Go and make disciples of all nations.

                The games began with the U-12 teams from the area playing 20 minute halves, 9v9, on half of a field. Will and James held down the sidelines as AR’s as Nick and Pastor Bob were the goal line refs, and Patrick was the head ref for the first two games. Respire and Equip Ruj won their respective games with the score of 1-0 and will meet each other in the final tomorrow. It was very interesting to compare the youth soccer of what we know of in the states with that of what Haitian youth soccer has to offer. They are very skilled on the ball, extremely high intensity, but they fail to understand the concept of spacing, defense, and the fact that high kicks with brand new cleats WILL HURT! In between each game we fed all of the players on each team with rice, beans, pikiliz (spicy coleslaw), and a chicken leg. We also provided each team with water. The next portion of the day consisted of the U-17 games. They played on a full sized field, 11v11, with 40 minute halves. Respire and Equip Orange won 1-0 and 2-1 respectively.
                While the games were being played on the field, relationships with fans and children alike, and moments we will always cherish, were being developed.  Ayla and Mr. Kibler served as human jungle gyms for the children playing with makeshift toys.  For example, one little boy was playing with a “car” he had created by placing four wheels on the sides of a soup can.  Whoever was not involved with the soccer games, spent time entertaining the children and speaking with the locals. Patrick had a special moment with a man named Osmin, who had many questions about the word of Christ that Pastor Bob preached about earlier. He did not understand how playing the game of soccer was living out God’s word. Patrick did a bit of preaching while learning a bit of creole along the way.
                After leaving the fields, we went back to Respire and walked up the mountain to see their property.  Megan took us on a tour of their schools and told us her story about how she came to Haiti and how she came to start her program with Josh.  She also revealed to us that she learned creole after praying to the Lord to help her find a way to communicate with the Haitian people because she was overwhelmed after initially going to Haiti.  Megan and Josh are incredible people and they have expanded their program immensely after starting the program 2 and a half years ago.  The purpose of their program is to save, rescue, and employ restaveks, which are basically child slaves.  There are approximately 500,000 restaveks in Haiti and therefore, this is a major problem she wants to raise awareness about.

                Ready to go back to New Life, we all packed back into the bus for a very loud and joyful bus ride, in contrast to the morning ride. Ate dinner, the meal we were are always looking forward to. Had devotions with the children and shared our special “out of the boat moments” for the day amongst the group. Now trying to mentally prepare for another 5:15am wakeup call tomorrow morning.



Patrick and Nick

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