Play For Hope

Check out this video of our friend BJ Maack, of Arkansas Sports Performance, talking about Play For Hope and an sports equipment drive he is putting on for us in Arkansas on the news.  Cool stuff!

If you have any interest in running an equipment drive for us please contact me This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

This is our second entry of what I hope will be a long running series of blog entries on how sports can change a life.  Last week we can showed a video of a player named Jean Claude on Rwandan Cooridnator Serieux's team which can be seen here.  At Play For Hope we often say that sports is a language that transends culture.  It breaks down barriers and allows us to understand others and learn that we are all human.  This is the story of one such young man who learned that sports can help him learn he is not alone and that others share his problems.  Together they can overcome their problems.  We hope you enjoy hearing this week from Jean Pierre, who also plays on Serieux's team.  The transcript can be found below the video.

My name is John Peter (Jean Pierre) Biyakiteto.  I am 18 years old.  What football has done in my life…I have never been happy before and I was always angry for no reason.  Since I began to play football, I have become more open with others. Playing football has helped me to see that there are other guys who have the same problems like me and I can share with them.  My wish is that there would be a way for me to go back to school.  I dream about going to a vocational training school.

Play For Hope wanted to send a huge thank you to Jake, a high school soccer player from Chatham, NJ, who ran a soccer cleat drive for an organization that Play For Hope loves called Peace Passers (www.peacepasser.org).  Jake collected 190 soccer boots which Peace Passers was kind enough to have sent to Play For Hope.  We are so blessed to have these resources to provide to the children of Rwanda.  Each cleat will be used to allow children, many of whom play soccer in their bare feet, an opportunity to further their ability to play the game that they love.  I hope that soon we can show the pictures of the smiling children in Rwanda and tell the amazing stories of change that Jake has helped us write. 

This is the first entry of a new feature entitled Sports That Changes.  In it we will post videos and stories about how sports has impacted the life of a child.  The first post is an interview of Jean Claude, a player that plays twice a week on our Rwandan Coordinator's  Serieux's street kids team.  The transcript is posted below the video.

My name is Jean Claude Nizeyimana.  I am 19 years old.  What has football done in my life?  You know my parents died during the genocide and after their death I lost all hope.  But what brings back the hope is always spending time with other guys of my age.  Football brings me hope in a sense that where I see many young people like me playing football together I just have a hope that the future will be better.  Football is very good because it brings harmony and unity among us.  

I interrupted my school when I was in P4 (primary 4th grade) because I had no school fees and I had no scholarship.  My wish is that I can be able to go back to school and go as far as possible in my studies so that I can be important and I can be someone who can even lead the country.  This is my dream so that I can have a very good life and I can help my family and my brothers.