After an awesome first session on Thursday, it was time to visit another group on Friday afternoon – this time a familiar community partner called VAHUM. We first partnered with the organization back in 2020, just weeks before the world shut down because of COVID. We ran a joint three day camp alongside our friends at Caring Crew, exposing VAHUM’s beneficiaries to science, arts, dance, sustainability, field trips, community outreach, and of course, soccer.

Because of this, I was eager to visit the kids again, especially after reconnecting earlier in the week with one of VAHUM’s staff members, Lala. We worked with nearly 65 kids last year, a number that has since grown because of pandemic related struggles like food insecurity and job loss.

VAHUM, being a safe haven of sorts, has opened its doors to kids from the local community throughout the pandemic on Tuesdays and Saturdays, giving kids space to share a meal, study, complete schoolwork, or simply the opportunity to exist as kids do and should.

After a near accident in my Uber heading towards Lala’s house, I finally arrived on her doorstep unscathed. I was introduced to her family before reconnecting with another familiar face from last year, Pedro, also a VAHUM staff member.

We loaded all the equipment in the car and prepared for the long journey to the colorful community of Ciudad Bolivar, which is known for being incredibly violent and dangerous. After a global pandemic that has seen families struggle to put food on the table, the situation has only grown to become more and more insecure.

Despite being on a heightened level of alert during the commute, I enjoyed time spent reminiscing with Lala and Pedro. We spoke about the past year, the months that their doors were forced shut and the months that we weren’t able to run programs because of health and safety reasons. Unsurprisingly, there was much overlap between both of our organizations.

We spoke about funding struggles and sponsorship troubles, before Lala excitedly shared the news of a grant they had received late in the year that was desperately needed, which reminded me of us receiving our Belichick Foundation grant at a time when our donors were down 80 percent for the year.

More familiar faces poured through the front door of the foundation, while Lala and Pedro took me for a quick tour, pointing out their new tiled flooring with excitement. The kids were prepared for soccer, some rocking their best pairs of soccer flats.

As mentioned, the foundation traditionally meets on Tuesday and Saturday, so this Friday session was improvised but when soccer is in play the kids will always find their way there.

Some of the kids study in the morning, while others study until about 5 PM, so we would be missing some past participants with classes in that later time block. As our group grew larger, we made our way down to the next street “Three Crosses” where we were hoping to run the session.

It’s usually too dangerous to use the community soccer court, but it really is a beautiful venue whenever we get the chance to play on it. In an abundance of caution, we stuck with a rocky, tilted dirt lot right below Tres Cruces.

I set up groups of two for our listening drill as more and more familiar faces entered the fold. The group rounded out nicely with kids from the barrio joining in, hoping to enjoy the session and maybe leave with a new ball.

After a couple light-hearted and much-enjoyed rounds of our listening drill, we broke into a scrimmage. I could see the kids bubbling and knew they were eager to just play. Mid-scrimmage, more of those familiar faces would come up to me, greeting me with high fives and hugs. Two girls approached from the side and pointed up at the leftmost of the “Tres Cruces” with excitement. Our mom is up there!

I waved excitedly before sprinting up the hill. I was out of breath upon arrival, but greeted her. She asked how my mom was before giving her best wishes for me and our family.

Back with the group, I decided to break into relay races but before starting, I again took out a captain’s armband from my backpack and scoped out the crowd in front of me. A boy stepped up to the task. I helped place the band around his arm, and he smiled ear to ear once it was fully wrapped around it – like a real capitan.

He immediately dove straight into his role, demonstrating every single variation we had for the relay races. What started just as an experiment has quickly turned into something far greater. Thrusting kids into positions of leadership, granting them opportunities not just to lead, but to lead by example – in places where positive role models all too often are few and far between.

In the middle of our second drill, the captain ran up to me and tapped me on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, Profi? Is this for me to keep?” gesturing to the armband wrapped tightly around his right bicep. I nodded yes and he sprinted straight back to his team with a huge smile on his face.

After the relay races and still with familiar faces visiting me in between, we got right into mano o cabeza. We had a group of 25-30, but I only had 16 soccer balls with me. I had set aside one at Pedro’s request for a young boy dealing with a lot of troubles both in life and in the context of family. We needed 15 winners, and 15 winners we would soon have.

The kids remembered vividly mano o cabeza from the last time our programs were in Ciudad Bolívar, so it was fun to revisit it and the smiles were all the same even a year on. We played a few rounds until the magic number 15 was reached and then sat down shortly after to pass out soccer balls to the winners.

Afterwards, bringing about a wave of nostalgia from our 2020 program with VAHUM, a pair of girls came up to me with their new soccer balls and a pen, asking for my “firma”. Back in 2020, the same two girls had asked me to sign basically everything they had – their hands, soccer balls, drawstring bags, arms, foreheads, and even a bag of chips.

As the program died down and kids bid farewell before slowly making their way back home, we began the long and arduous uphill trek back to the VAHUM building. Seated in front of its storied doors, participants popped a squat to either side of me just to share some conversation and thoughts.

A boy who had greeted our entire group of volunteers back in 2020, telling us the doors to VAHUM were always open to welcome us in the same way they welcomed kids in the community, sat to my right.

He had still been working on his English and began to curiously ask me to help him translate certain phrases while he showed off the ones he had already learned in school. On the left sat Santiago, another participant from back in 2020 who was also in attendance today with his sister and prima.

Santiago had been extremely active during our pandemic virtual challenge series, participating in some of our skills videos and sending over some of his own – using the same ball he had first gotten during our program. Wanting to reward his participation, I had always hoped to give him a new ball on this second visit, a promise I was able to keep when he left with a brand new Puma one!

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Remembering a set of positive affirmation cards from our Voya partners in my bag, I took them out and passed them to the group seated around me. They read the cards carefully, letting their messages sink in before turning them over to learn the English versions.

“Dream it, wish it, do it.”

“Believe in yourself.”

Each message is more important than the next. I later talked with Pedro and Lala and they mentioned that these little cards were one of their favorite parts of the whole experience. 

“It’s such a small, but profound thing for the kids.” We could all use a little bit of positive reinforcement, especially these days. Those words, though simple, can go a long, long way when it comes to forming a child’s mindset and molding his or her future.

One small boy, Juan Pablo, was creating a little card collection himself. He had nearly five in one hand and asked me if it was okay if he could have more. I passed five more into his other hand and he squealed with joy, reading each one just as intently as the next.

To my left, Santiago was showing me his new shoes, while asking me about my Adidas flats and how much they cost. Another voice chimed in, “Profi? How many soccer shoes do you have?” I told him way too many – all different colors and everything. 

After sharing a couple bottles of Coca Cola between the group of us, it was time to head back – so I told the kids I hoped to see them again soon, hopefully with my mother the next time, which made them smile. They were constantly asking about her and said they’d never forgotten her and her creative arts program.

Later, I took Lala and Pedro to a nearby mall to thank them for their time and help over dinner. We had some local Colombian dishes – plantains, little papas, frijoles, and delectable meats.

We talked shop and marveled at the kids yet again in the same way we did en route to the program, while discussing how we could work again in the future. They were also nice enough to offer contacts in other communities so we could bring our curriculum to more kids in need of such programs.

Afterwards, I thanked them for their company before picking up the bill. “¡Tú cocinas bien!” joked Pedro, as we shared one final laugh after a day full of them.