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Written by Brian Beckman
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Sunday, 17 January 2010 10:25 |
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Last summer we spent a lot of time getting to know a team of street kids. We met with them twice a week and pour into their lives. They were perhaps the most remarkable group of children that I have ever met and are an amazing example of what sports can do in a child's life. They walked over 90 minutes both ways to practice at the field where we met them. Upon arrival to Rwanda I returned to the field and this is what I found: 
The field has been destroyed by a local who was paid to repair it. He drove a truck over it and stole all of the money that had been given to him to do the work. We will be attempting to get the government to interevene so that our kids can play their again. While it was sad to see the field destroyed, I have visited many of the boys and they are still constantly smiling and playing matches. The match that I visited them at ended in 1 to 1 tie despite many of them not having enough food and walking at least two hours to the field to play, not to mention their practice field being destroyed. |
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Written by Brian Beckman
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Sunday, 17 January 2010 09:56 |
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I have safely arrived in Rwanda. I apologize for the lack of updates on the blog. It has been rather difficult to find functioning internet in the city. I have had a series of successful meetings with Rwandans who are helping establish our program within Rwanda. We are also setting up for the summer, which we are hoping to training up to 30 new coaches. That would create 30 new teams of Rwandan youth and children who previously had little to no adult mentorship or love in their lives. We have high hopes for the future of Rwanda and are exploring new ways to make it a reality. Please stay tuned for many, many updates of what is occurring here and how you can be a part of it. |
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Written by Brian Beckman
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Thursday, 07 January 2010 00:42 |
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Check out a promotional video of Play For Hope and let us know what you think of it: |
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Written by Brian Beckman
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Tuesday, 05 January 2010 15:04 |
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I will be leaving for Rwanda on January 13th and staying Kigali for three weeks. During that time major decisions will be made in regards to the structure and the future of operations in Rwanda. I also will be visiting many of the children whose pictures you have seen on this website. I am beyond excited to see what has transpired since my last trip to Rwanda last summer and to see the even bigger dreams that are coming. Play For Hope will be setting up major summer trips from the US for basketball and soccer training as well. Please continue to follow the trip on this blog to see all of the awesome things that God is doing in Rwanda. Some needs that we have for our following trip are: a projector, a small printer/scanner, soccer/basketball training dvds (preselected), if anyone knows inexpensive ways of obtaining these I would love to know. |
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Written by Brian Beckman
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Tuesday, 05 January 2010 05:42 |
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In this week's sports that change, I want to take a look at what sports by itself does not change. We work with street kids to give them hope for the future, which has been explored in our past videos. Sports give these children something positive to do, when there often is nothing and creates relationships for children that once felt alone in the world. But still there remain many needs in these children's lives. Listen to what our friend Theogene has to say: "My name is Theogene Sindikubwabo. Really football is not my carrier so I am playing football just for fun. My first wish is to get back to school. I interrupted my school when I was in P6. My family was not able to pay the school fees for me to go to secondary school so I left school because of that reason. To prevent spending all my time at home doing nothing, I come to play football. Also when I come here I make new friends and I share with them. But really my first wish is to go back to school." It is one of our primary goals to use sports to holistically impact children's lives through our ministry. That means our impact starts on the sports field through mentorship. We do not however want it to end there. It is our dream to develop programs that use sports to draw children in and get them into school and loving homes. Please consider making a donation to Play For Hope at www.playforhope.org/contribute. Your donation can change the life of a child like Theogene. |
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Written by Brian Beckman
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Monday, 04 January 2010 17:25 |
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I wanted to share with you the best basketball pictures that our photographer Ryan Bowen took in 2009. A lot of our recent posts have been in regards to soccer, specifically in regards to using soccer to get children off of the streets. We are also planning on beginning street kids basketball teams in 2010. 
This photo was taken as sun set on our clinic in Gatenga.  Girls showing off their new learned skills. We might need to work a bit on the uniforms... 
A typical Rwandan basketball... we would like to trade those out with real balls. If you would like to run a ball drive please
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 Look at that beautiful form... 
Learning to shoot for the first time! 
It takes a lot of practice... We had a blast teaching basketball to coaches and children in Rwanda in 2009 (many of them had never touched a basketball before) and look forward to continuing the work in 2010. We believe we can use basketball as a holistic ministry to uplift and change children's lives, providing them with love and support in a world with so few parents. For more information or to get involved please contact us
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