Post from OA Volunteer, and Rebero Camp coach, Lindsay Henwood:

Working with the children of the Rebero Orphan Center in Kigali, Rwanda, has been a life-altering experience.

The feeling I have when I see children smiling because of a goofy face or scoring a goal for their soccer team is incredible.

All of the children from Rebero demonstrated their gratitude for Opportunitas Aequa and Hope Shines for being there just with their happy faces. However, there was one boy that caught my attention the second or third day of camp, but in a different way from the other children. Everyday he walked to the field by himself, and rarely spoke or smiled. The only words he ever said were that he has no parents and wants to come to Canada with me to learn English. His name is Jedeo and he is fourteen years old.

I realized that the Genocide in Rwanda occurred fourteen years ago. It was difficult to explain that I could not take him with me, but that I would do anything I could to help him. To this he would say, “Why can’t I come with you?” in broken English.

This experience really gave me some perspective into what many of the children are going through emotionally. I talked to the managers of Rebero, and they thought it would be best if I gave my contact information and that Jedeo’s guardian would reach out to me if they want help. I truly hope the soccer camp brought a shred of happiness into Jedeo’s life similar to what we saw it had achieved for the other children.

I feel so privileged to have had this experience and hope that I had as positive an impact on the children as they had on me.

–

FYI: Lindsay is also starting up her own initiative, Football to Freedom, and she is planning on launching her first project in the fall, in Guatemala (so stay in the loop for that and/or join her on facebook).

Tomorrow, Ihene Mathieson tells us about his experiences in the camp.

Hey, All,

I have decided to keep our posts about the camp details rather general and to include one personal story from each of the three coaches who were there, full-time and everyday, with the kids.

The camp lasted seven days, and, on two of the days, the girls from the Center joined the activities. The camp was divided into basically three components: morning warm-up and skill sessions; lunch; and afternoon games and activities (applying what was focused on in the morning). The kids had water breaks in the morning, during lunch, and in the afternoon, and their lunch was provided by the Hope Shines Foundation and put together by a cook a the Center. Their food was mainly beans, rice, a piece of meat, banana, and sometimes veggies.

The first story is from the Head Coach of the camp, Andrew Pike:

Hey everyone, just wanted to share some of the stories from the camp we are running here in Kigali, Rwanda at the Rebero Orphans Centre.

Everything has been awesome, from working with the girls from the Hope Shines Foundation, to meeting the founders of Rebero and hearing their incredible stories - but nothing can compare to working with these kids. Their energy and willingness to learn has been so infectious that everyone has been affected.

I find myself consistently comparing the camp to what I know in Canada, and there is no simple contrast I can make. These kids have so little opportunity to experience soccer like we do in Canada that it reinforces everything that I believe in with OA. Soccer can be such a simple, yet powerful, tool for crossing borders, language barriers, and gender inequalities.

The camp was full of very special kids, but one of the boys that I really bonded didn’t even play soccer! Right of the bat we noticed that some of the kids at the camp were too young to fully participate and as a result made their own fun off to the side. The problem with this was that our bag of equipment was constantly getting raided and our stuff was in chaos.

To solve this small problem we appointed one of the kids as the “boss of the equipment.” Soon after he picked up the nickname “Boss-Man,” and really took to his task. Throughout the week the Boss-Man was an example for the other kids of how responsibility and respect are traits that can get you very far in life.

At the end of the week we recognized the Boss-Man with a prize for his special contribution to the camp. Great kid, and I almost brought him home with me to watch my equipment back in Canada!

Tomorrow we will hear from Lindsay.

Stay tuned….

Gav, Dunc, Pike, and an OA crew continue their adventure in Rwanda, coaching soccer and building soccer fields….

—

July 19th

So, all 5 OAers arrived at Rebero Orphanage for Day 1 of the 7-day camp on the 19th of July, and (as expected) it was a rather chaotic arrival.

The three OA coaches were meeting the kids for the first time, and the new soccer balls combined with the umuzungu (white person) factor create an uncontrollable excitement. And, the 5 volunteers from Hope Shines were there, further adding to the excitement for the kids.

After about 15 minutes of total chaos, Emmanuel of the Center called the kids in, and the introductions were had…but, to be totally honest, the only name that stuck was Ian’s nickname of “ihene” (goat). The kids could not have found this funnier, and so it stuck.

After the two groups of volunteers (from OA and Hope Shines) gave out the shoes that TOMS Shoes donated (more on this later) to the kids, the 5 of us and the boys headed off to the community field.

The field is about a 10-minute walk down a rugged road that is in the middle of being paved.

The whole way to the field was filled with random shouts and squeaks from the other kids of the neighborhood. By the time we arrived at the field, our pack of about 40 boys had doubled, and we found about four other groups of kids playing soccer there…wow.

Without fail, everyone soon joined our group, attracted by the new soccer ball and muzungu factor. Somehow, the coaches managed to stage a decent warm-up and passing drill in the volleyball court area, but the number of curious kids crawling all over the equipment, the coaches, and the film equipment did not make for any easy environment for the coaches.

At lunch, we decided that there was no way that we could use that field anymore if we actually wanted to have un-frantic time with the kids.

After a few phone calls, a real rental fee negotiated, and some walking/driving around in the dust, we had secured another field for the post-lunch activities. This field was in slightly worse playing shape but had a locked fence around it combined with a maintenance guy – priceless in this community.

Half of the afternoon was spent picking up the large/jagged rocks from the field before the kids got into their first green vs. red game of the week…which turns into quite a friendly rivalry.

Lots more to come…

OA Community,

Wanted to quickly let everyone know that a huge reason that we were capable of returning to Rwanda a year ahead of schedule was because of some significant support from the Charity Pot initiative of LUSH Cosmetics.

LUSH raises funds through the sales of the Charity Pot, which is a great hand and body lotion made from Fair Trade cocoa butter. Every penny from the sales (except the tax) goes into a “pot” that is then used to fund a group of handpicked causes.

Moreover, LUSH, as a company, tries to support small, grassroots groups that are doing really vital work but often struggle for funding. (I think that the OA community agrees that we are as grassroots as it gets!).

Before I left for Kigali, I was lucky enough to meet with two of LUSH’s employees who are part of the Charity Pot initiative. They have done some very cool things and have amazing plans for supporting grassroots projects in the future.

For more info about LUSH (and their high ethical standards), the Charity Pot and the other projects getting support, check out their site

Again, OA sends a huge thanks to LUSH (and to the customers who have purchased the Charity Pots), and the children and communities in Rwanda are extremely grateful and thankful!

And, we encourage everyone to consider doing some of their shopping at LUSH as your purchases have great value for those on the receiving end of the supported projects.

Thanks!

Gavin.

July 17th – 18th

Just a few more things to cover before the camp starts.

While Dunc and I were in Kigali in April, we met with a few people about the field, but the person that stuck out the most was Emmanuel Ruziga – the Executive Secretary of the District of Kicukiro (the no. 2 behind the Mayor), one of three Districts in Kigali. As he is a very connected and senior person (with a seemingly large passion for the sport), we decided to work with Emmanuel during this Phase, our pilot project, to re-build one field in his community.

On the 17th of July, Dunc and I, along with our local liaison/translator, Louis, spent four hours with Emmanuel touring Kicukiro looking at different fields and discussing the logistics with the leaders at each respective site. The 3 fields that we had a close look at had 3 different stories.

The first was a community in a more rural sector, Masaka, of Kicukiro, and was totally uneven with makeshift goalposts and patches of uncontrolled grass. There are a bunch of teams that use the field, and we were pleasantly greeted by some of the youth playing with some of their creative homemade toys – including a pretty cool airplane.

The second field, next to the airport, was relatively flat but had no soil or grass on it whatsoever. The field plays host to many games on the weekend, and, with no maintenance or support, the field has basically been reduced to a hard and compact clay surface.

The final field that we looked at closely was right in the heart of Kicukiro, in the sector of Gikondo. Surrounded by overflowing communities, the field is part of a larger plot owned by a private Christian school. The field sees a ton of community action and is home to many inter-community games on the weekend. However, the field, much like that of the 2nd field, was relatively flat but was compacted clay with no grass or soil…leaving a playing surface much like concrete.

That day gave us much to think about. How are we going to repair one of these fields, properly, with the timeline that we now had (4 weeks) and with the shoestring budget that we are on!

On the 18th, after about four days of phone calls and SMS messages, the founders of the Rebero Orphan Center finally secured a field for the weeklong camp — at no cost. The only potential problem with the field was that it is a public one and is very popular amongst the locals. Let’s see what happens on day 1 of the camp!

Gav.

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