Fútbol Sin Fronteras: Jan Camp 2013

Three years ago right around this time, I took my first trip down to Granada Nicaragua with two of my teammates, Lucy and Larkin, to volunteer for FSF's January Camp 2010. The program ran out of a one floor, tiny office space. There were two long-term interns, Zoey and Kay, three Nicaraguan female leaders, Cindy Suyen and Yelba, and 8-10 teenage male coaches. There were a jumble of girls and a few boys that showed up for soccer practice and activities that week and they were divided into two large groups- grandes and pequeñas (bigs and littles). The power in the entire city was in and out all week, Lucy and I showered with a bucket of cold water, and there were a variety of pigeons and parrots strutting around inside our house all week. It was a really fun, eye-opening week.

Larkin graduated that May and flew back down in August to work as a year-long intern. She and Lindsey (her co-intern) found a much larger, three floor office space with rooms to live in. They whittled the two large co-ed groups down to three all girls teams with identified names- Las Mariposas, Las Estrellas, y las Nicoyas (now las Veteranas). They solidified a weekly schedule, they connected with schools and other community members to reach more girls, they made the program what it is today.

That kind of progress cannot be achieved by just anybody, you have to be incredibly proactive and charismatic and focused and wonderful like Larkin and Lindsey, but it is pretty darn inspiring nonetheless. It made me think "Hey, I could be a big part of something really neat." So three years later, here I am. And by some stroke of luck, or maybe a not-so-coincidental common bond, Larkin is back here too as the program's first ever local director. Now there are four year-long interns, Mady Becca Allie and myself. There are three Nicaraguan female leaders, Flaca Helen and Hassell (two of which are past participants of the program) and three Nicaraguan male leaders, César Techo and Edén (two of which have been working with FSF since it's inception) There has been big and deliberate change and growth over the course of five years; a young organization driven by young people, making a difference for other young people. And that's really neat.

This Jan Camp was another fun and eye-opening week for me in different ways than the first time around. It was so fun to be back in Granada with five months of experience already under my belt; it was fun to recognize the strengths of the connections I have already made and know that I have more time to grow them. It was fun to feel fully capable and confident planning and leading practices and activities fully in Spanish. It was fun to see newcomers to Granada react to all the nuances and quirks of this place. It was fun to feel apart from that, as if I'm a part of this place too, not a foreigner anymore. On the other hand, it was eye-opening to see how many girls showed up to morning practice without having eaten breakfast or without the opportunity to eat breakfast and therefore either felt dizzy, or became sick to their stomachs. It was eye-opening to find many, many girls whose heads are crawling with lice and whose parents know about it but haven't bothered to take care of it. It was eye-opening to see that in 5 days of interaction with these girls, the 11 newcomers made a significant impact on the energy of the whole program. A year doesn't seem very long, but I know now that it's definitely important and impactful.

Politics aside, President Obama said in his Inauguration speech "We the people declare today that the most evident of truth that all of us are created equal...We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal not just in the eyes of God but also in our own." I am proud and lucky to have been born in the United States of America, but these girls are Nicaraguan and are not given an equal chance to succeed. As a global community we must strive for the same ideals and work towards making these ideals more of a reality. The camp was a great kick off to the year and we have many ideas and plans to further develop our system and curriculum to benefit these girls born into the bleakest poverty. The truth is self-evident, its time to self-execute.