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Travel

How Soccer Balls Make an Impact in Taminango Colombia

I never thought a soccer ball in Taminango Colombia could make me cry.

Let me explain…

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How Does the Gift of Sports Change Lives?

This is what the gift of a soccer ball looks like in Colombia.

A team in the middle of a dirt field practising every night. Two young men, sponsored as children, now coaches, committed and clear-headed. Mentors in every way.

This is the living breathing outcome of presents from a World Vision gift catalogue.

A vulnerable space made into a soccer field in a community where drugs, gangs and crime are extremely big threats to a child’s safety. Poverty lives here every day. It can easily outweigh everything else and pull you in thinking there’s a quick fix. But not if you are kept busy, given spaces to build strengths, build healthy bodies and friendships.

My First Full Day in Colombia

It is my first full day in Colombia travelling with World Vision Canada. Today we have landed here in Taminango, Colombia, not far from Santander De Quilichao which has the countries’ second largest heroin problem. Our bus stops in the middle of an open field. Taminango is about an hour from Cali in the south of Colombia. We get out and walk towards what appears to be a soccer practice.

A Soccer Pitch

There are roughly 40 kids between the ages of 6 and 16 all running through drills. Nearby, brothers and sisters tumble down and then climb back up the side of a small cliff. Once in a while they pause to watch.

In the distance, someone is standing on a rooftop. This open field feels exposed. Roosters and chickens run around very close by. Our bus moves in closer to us. Several women do too. It’s unclear why the women are here, but eventually it will make sense.

These Two Young Men

Juan and Miguel, 20, were both sponsored as children by someone in Canada. They remember being very young. One says three and the other says he was maybe five years old when sponsorship began. They are each dressed immaculately and they are extremely articulate.

What is a Peace Keeper in Colombia?

Miguel and Juan are the coaches here. They are also Peace Keepers, which is a youth mentoring and advocacy movement that has grown and spread throughout the country. Both Juan and Miguel now are also sponsored to attend university. That is a big honour for kids who came from a poor area. It is something each takes seriously.

Later, I am told both boys travel by bus more than one hour each day of the week to Cali. That would be a big enough commitment on its own, but add to that the fact the open highway that leads from Cali to Taminango and through Santander De Quilichao is treacherous.

Through Santander De Quilichao

One day, we see that police have stopped a bus on a bridge and they are taking two people away. Remember this is an area where drugs and gangs and theft and guns and poverty all go hand in hand. People in gangs addicted to heroin often are not predictable. Now add guns. Peace Keepers gives children a voice in a country that has had a violent and devastating history. This is a program that builds mentors who pay it forward exponentially with future generations. The movement also cultivates advocates.

How the Gift of Soccer Balls Can Make an Impact

I am here to learn more about this concept and to write more about Peace Keepers. But today I am completely overwhelmed by soccer balls.

 
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Before I travelled to Colombia with World Vision Canada, I glanced through the annual gift catalogue. Gifts that inspire and those that have meaning are apparent on every page. Together, we have all looked through the catalogue  routinely in my home.

Sports Equipment and Soccer Balls

We spied soccer balls and sports equipment on one of the pages of the physical catalogue and it sat strangely with me. In a catalogue full of weighty things like chickens and medicine and latrines, why soccer balls?

Sports equipment seemed superficial and trivial at first. What does a soccer ball have to do with community building, or poverty or children in Colombia?

Goats? Chickens? Soccer Balls?

The goats, I understand. The chickens I totally comprehend. Soccer balls? One of these things is not like the other. Which one doesn’t belong?

 
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Last year, my daughter asked to give all of her babysitting money to buy a goat from the World Vision Canada gift catalogue. I asked her to wait. I was hoping to teach her to save some for her, before she gives some to someone else.  Now that I am here in Colombia watching exactly what a gift from the gift catalogue looks like, what it gives – so much more than money – I berate myself for waiting.

This is what a gift of three soccer balls gives to a team in Taminango.

Three soccer balls equal:

Two amazing young coaches with two jobs that fill their spare time. That becomes two lives in focus. A couple of young men studying to be physical education teachers.

Lives with purpose. That’s no small thing.

A Soccer Balls Gift Equals

  • A chance to reconnect with what they missed as children.
  • Inspiration to help other children in their community.

One Small Gift That Helps 40!

In Taminango Colombia, that same small soccer ball gift gives 40 boys a space to be safe.

Add on to that the power for exercise, activity, health, hope and self esteem and a space to grow into healthy, respectful citizens. So, it’s a gift of hope and health and community.

 
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I never imagined, looking at the World Vision Canada gift catalogue, that a soccer ball could be a powerful weapon in the fight against gangs, drugs and poverty. Standing here in this field in Taminango Colombia, listening to Juan and Miguel I see that a soccer ball is one of the most amazing tools available to battle such formidable monsters. Later, as I start to piece this altogether in my head with words and frame it in the context of the country I am getting to know, I find that I am moved to tears by soccer balls.

 
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Who Are These Women in Taminango Colombia?

But what of these women? The ones at the start of this story who appear out of nowhere and flank us mysteriously. I assumed they were spectators here in Taminango, Colombia. There were some amazing players. But, they are in fact more.

They are part of an organized community group of women leaders (more on that group later) and they stop the bus as we are almost ready to leave and offer us food and drinks. Through a translator, they share their gratitude – Thank you World Vision Canada, they say.

A Simple Soccer Ball in Taminango, Colombia

Ongoing sponsorship, and gifts from the World Vision Canada holiday gift catalogue have transformed this area. They bring hope, dignity and independence. All rolled up in the shape of a soccer ball.

I’ll never look at sports equipment in the same way again. 

I am sharing my journey to Colombia with World Vision Canada here on the blog in a series. This was the story of soccer balls in Taminango Colombia.

You can read

Part 1: The Briefing

Part 2: Where Hope Lives

Don’t Forget to Sponsor a Child or Choose a Gift

Sponsor a child and change a community, or you can buy something for someone this year that makes a difference to an entire community like this one. Visit the gift catalogue here: http://bit.ly/1pbSZpV

For more information visit the main World Vision site. 

Follow World Vision on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/worldvisioncan/

and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldVisionCan

Mom of two beautiful active girls, traveller, fitness junkie, social media consultant, and keeper of the sanity.

19 Comments

  • Alyssa K

    World Vision has always been an incredible organization helping those in countries that are not as fruitful or as lucky as we are here in North America. It brings tears to my eyes knowing these young men are so very very thankful for something as simple as a soccer ball but our North American kids whine because they don’ t have the latest cell phone or video console. These young men you speak of are the real heroes, they will make a difference in their country and it is all thanks to people like you with big hearts and lots of love to share with the help of World Vision, one step at a time this world could be a better place. Thank you for sharing your story.

  • MamaLad

    Who would have ever imagined that three soccer balls could make such a difference. I love what World Vision does. You must be very proud to be working with them. What an amazing opportunity it must have been to travel to Columbia. Keep up the inspiring work!

  • Bonnie Way

    Wow, that is totally amazing. We have so many balls around here… as you say, we don’t even think about it. Yet sports can be so powerful, and all they need is a bit of equipment. Thank you for helping and sharing about it!

  • Suzanne

    Another wonderful story! I love that these young people can find so much joy in the simple things, like playing soccer. Such a great way to instill the values that will help them thrive as they grow..

  • Tammy Mitchell

    Paula. Thank you for sharing all this hope with us. Daily I look for ways to help out. This year I will make a difference and buy a soccer ball with my kids. At the same time I will read this story that came from my friend. Thank you.

  • Skees

    Definitely amazing how something so small and what we consider inconsequential can make such a difference in the lives of so many others.

  • Judy Cowan

    What an amazing story. Amazing how such a small gift can make such a big impact. World Vision does so much to help! I am going to go check out about buying a soccer ball.

  • Jonnie

    What an inspiring story! It’s truly amazing how much we take for grated compared to people in other parts of the world. It’s great to see the dedication of an organization like World Vision really paying of by not just offering food and clean water, but also pleasure and entertainment.

  • lindsay cyr

    Such a heartwarming story. I have also been a supporter of World Vision for several years now, our family sponsors a little boy. I’m sure he would love a soccer ball too.

  • Viv sluys

    This is how we do Christmas (started last year!) We do gift exchanges with family and we just buy something from the gift catalogue and then wrap the thank-you for giving card for the exchange! We’re trying to promote giving to people who have actual needs rather than buying more sorta-want-it, fill-a-house-with-everything things