Kicking hope

The word “kick” is usually taken to mean “to cause harm,” or “to rid of something” as in the term “kick out.” But these negatives are not the only potential of the word.  “Kick” can also convey a positive idea.

A “kick off” means a start, often a positive development. In football, kicking the ball is not an act of causing damage to it or getting rid of it – it is managing the ball to be where the player wants it to be. Perhaps why FundLife International chooses football as a vehicle for its recovery program for the young victims of typhoon Yolanda in Tacloban.

The 2013 tragedy of the strongest typhoon in history to make landfall kicked off the outpouring of sympathy for its victims. It opened the heart of the world for the survivors. Various agencies, both local and international, offered aids and started rehabilitation programs.

Some brought food and clothes and medicine. Others built houses, repaired damaged roads and bridges. Their kindness meant a lot – but, in the face of such vast devastation, these were not enough.

There are broken spirits that need to be made whole again. Traumatized young minds whose positive view of life need to be restored. The horror that continue to haunt them in their sleep has to be stopped.

Healing – emotional and spiritual healing – is more difficult with the young. Their sense of safety breached, it could take a very long time to get them feel settled again – or they could suffer the rest of their lives. These kids need to learn to pick themselves up and take responsibility of their own fates.

Sports can help them do that.  A game is not something that someone plays for them – they have to play it themselves. It’s good enough that there may be a coach to teach them beforehand how to play the game well. But once in the game, they’re on their own.

The kids of Tacloban are responding very enthusiastically to the Football for Life program of FundLife International. A diminutive seven year-old boy is consistently attending the training sessions, which are mostly held under the heat of the fierce sun, for lack of better venues. Some of the participating boys and girls do not even have footwear, although this lack doesn’t seem to hold them back.

One girl from the Football for Life program in Tacloban is now in Spain for further training.  The rest of the kids are having their breaks as well – a break from the monotony of life dimmed by disaster. Now, they have something to look forward to everyday – to keep them busy, to allow them to be in charge. That’s what football brings for them all.

But FundLife International can only take the Football for Life program so far. The agency’s resources can only support so many kids, and there are many more to take in. Thus, there is need for more support, for more benefactors. Those with kind hearts may help, in any way they can (thru David Henry, Head of Partnerships and Corporate Engagements: cell number 09954978600).

The late Nelson Mandela once said: “Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.” Aptly said of the football kids in Tacloban.