On March 14-20, 2009, a group of Young Life students teamed together with Cameras With a Conscience and travelled to Tijuana, Mexico, to build a house, play with children, and hand out fair trade soccer balls and school bags. We spent three days building a house for the Gustavo family (7 children and mom and dad previously shared one bedroom), which was an incredible honor. Our team members had also packed along 52 fair trade soccer balls that we ordered through James at Social Conscience to give away to children. We planned on giving the balls away to children in the communities we visited.


Part of our hope for the trip was to visit a school and give away 20 of those soccer balls. On a previous trip, some of us had briefly visited a school that is run for families who cannot afford to pay for regular schooling. We thought it would be brilliant to be able to give a whack of soccer balls to the school, so that many students could share together in sport. Soccer is such a communal sport, and we wanted to encourage this and share the fun with as many children as possible.


On the Wednesday of our visit, after completing the Gustavo’s house and presenting them with the keys, and visiting with Ana, a  14 year old girl I had met on a previous trip, and offering to help return her to school instead of working as a child laborer in a factory, we piled into our ragged bus and drove the potholed roads into Alti Plano, where the school is located. 


We arrived at the school before Isaac, the Principal, arrived, but were invited in to the compound. The school has a high fence around its edges, and all the cement buildings face onto the common area, that includes a paved area, and a dirt and rock covered soccer pitch. 


There was a group of what looked like grade 4 aged girls having dance class on the paved area, and they were practicing a traditional Mexican dance. Our team sat to enjoy their dancing, and when the music and dance was restarted, some of our team jumped in line behind some of the little girls and danced with them. It was a surreal and joyous moment watching some of our kids and leaders dancing with these little children. After another song, the second half of our team jumped up to dance with the children.

 

Social Conscience was approached by Cameras with a Conscience who wanted to distribute Fair Trade soccer balls to students and families around Tijuana. We were happy to participate.


Read their story here...






Tijuana, Mexico

The Principal arrived during the dancing, and we brought 20 balls into the compound to give to the school. It was an epic moment to come into the school compound and see waves of red plaid uniformed children running over to the soccer pitch. In all, well over 300 children lined up around the ‘field’ to view an impromptu soccer match between some grade 6 boys and some

The game ended with a score of 1-0 for the Mexican team, and a riot ensued. Throughout the game, many children had been eyeing and asking questions about the pile of balls we had stashed on the sidelines. When the game ended, the children (did I mention there was over 300 of them?) converged on the balls and our team members who were guarding them - it was chaotic, with lots of screaming, waves of pushing, and it was, honestly, a bit too intense, as it seemed that some children would get hurt in the process. We finally were able to scoop up the balls and push our way out of the middle of the crowd, and the Principal got on the makeshift p.a. and brought the students under control.

There was a brief time of giving speeches, and we were able to present the balls to the Phys-Ed teacher, telling the students this was a very simple way for us to say we loved them and cared about them as people. After giving the balls, our team was again swarmed, but this time by groups of smiling students wanting their autographs. Our teens were given the celebrity treatment, and











The people’s living conditions served to point out the disparity between the pristine looking factories, as many of their homes are patched together using old tarps, discarded pallets, and bits of plywood that are scrounged. It is not unusual for the government to show up throughout the year with bulldozers and level sections of this area, as it is an illegal squat. No Esperanza is a place where hope is hard to find, but there is still life and joy in the eyes of the children there. 


We walked through this area giving out bags of beans and rice, and vitamin enriched milk to the families with children. We also had the joy of giving out school bags, some clothing and soccer balls to some of the children we encountered there, naming groups of children the ‘new football team’. After walking through this area, some of our team had in impromptu game of soccer in one of the streets.


It was indeed a joy to be able to hand out soccer balls to many of our small friends in the communities we visited and worked in. My brother lives in Mexico City, and he told me once that children in Mexico are born with cleats on. There is such a great love and passion for football (what we call soccer) in Mexico. We give out fair trade soccer balls because, as one of our students stated, it is so good to know that you are giving a gift that didn’t take advantage of other children to make. We also know that giving a soccer ball is sometimes the greatest gift some of these children have received, and we know that a soccer ball creates community - it brings together kids from around the neighborhood to play and laugh together. Our goal for this year was to deliver 100 fair trade soccer balls to Tijuana, and, hopefully, Haiti. We delivered 52 on this trip, which leaves 48 more for us. We’re excited to continue raising money for this project, as we know a small gift can bring great joy and hope to children who need it. 

signed autographs for about half an hour before heading back out to our bus.

On our last day in Tijuana, our team travelled to an area called ‘No Esperanza’ (literally translated as ‘No Hope’) - an illegal squat that is surrounded by clean and modern looking factories. Many of the people living there work in those factories, working 12 hour shifts for about 10 dollars a day. We were told by our host that due to recession, many factories were only working one shift per week, and trying to care for their families. Driving through the factory ‘district’ we saw many clean and new looking factories that were empty and up for lease.

members of ‘Team Canada’- a match I expected to be a formal or ceremonial match that actually turned out to be an intense and no-holds barred soccer game, with lots of contact, groups of cheering students and dust flying everywhere. At one point, the ball was kicked out of bounds and bounced high over the compound wall - a bunch of children went running after it, and one of our students hauled himself over the wall to drop unseen behind it.