Posts tagged sports
Life is calling. How far will you go?
Jumping rope in Lesotho - 2009
Peru
At my village’s middle school, I started a girl’s soccer team to get them active and show that they can play just like the boys. Family and friends from back home donated authentic balls and other equipment to outfit us.
Peace Corps Volunteer Tiffany Saria works with Grassroots Soccer in Zambia, using soccer to teach HIV-prevention. She uses innovative curriculum, games and soccer activities to education youth about HIV transmissions and life skills.
Peace Corps Volunteer Simon Williams is working with his Ukrainian village to build a community athletic field and create a soccer league for the local school. Williams, who played baseball professionally with the St. Louis Cardinals organization, says the current athletic field at the village school is inadequate.
“The school sits on top of a hill and the field that they have is the size of half a basketball court, which is not sufficient for most physical education activities,” he explains. “Having been active in athletics my whole life, and knowing how soccer-crazy all these kids are, it would be great to see them have an adequate place to play.
“The plan is to make this a very hands-on project,” says the University of Maine graduate, who was Captain of the UMaine baseball team. “The village and its people have very little money but are excited to be a part of building a soccer field for the school.”
Williams has been working as a Youth Development volunteer since 2011, teaching English to students in a Kindergarten through 11th grade school. “We are playing stick-ball and the kids love it. I cut down a broom handle, bought a tennis ball and made the bases out of rocks and they are beginning to grasp the basics. The students always try for a home run, which is hilarious. I like their hustle,” he adds.
In order to receive funding through the Peace Corps Partnership Program, a community must make a 25 percent contribution to the total project cost and outline success indicators for the individual projects. This helps ensure community ownership and a greater chance of long-term sustainability.
One hundred percent of each tax-deductible PCPP donation goes toward a development project. Support Williams’ project in Ukraine
(Source: details for https)
In honor of March Madness, here’s a great photo from our Digital Library. Peace Corps Youth Development Volunteer shared how she used basketball in her community:
This photo was taken in April 2011 in Guatemala. As an outlet and self-esteem builder, I started a basketball league for teenage girls from surrounding areas. This picture shows some of the girls wearing their newly donated jerseys from a family member in the states who works in the recreation department.
(Source: peacecorps.gov)
KEN-2006-D257 on Flickr.
Two youth in Kenya get ready for a soccer match.
Youth Sports Center (Peace Corps Secondary Project)
As many of you know, in addition to teaching English as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I am also involved in youth development work in my community, with a focus on healthy lifestyles. In that vein, my Ukrainian counterparts and I have organized and submitted a grant proposal with the intent of providing the local youth sports center with much needed equipment (from sports equipment to heating units.) Please take a look at the project, and if you’re able to, donate! Even if you’re not personally able to donate to the project, please forward the information to anyone and everyone you think would be interested in being part of this undertaking!
(PS I will be promoting this project endlessly until it’s funded, so be prepared!!)
old Soviet movie theater (which we’re converting into a youth sports center as part of my secondary Peace Corps project)
