A few weeks after our Uganda-based run, I was buzzing to get back on the road. This time I returned to Bogota, Colombia after nearly three years.

Colombia was not my original destination for the month of March, but that’s a long story, and we’ll get to it eventually, when the time is right. Despite the last-minute change, I was still eager to make some moves and could not wait to get back to la ciudad de Bogota.

Aside from the usual customs hiccups and seemingly endless immigration line, the trip was off to a good start. I was scooped promptly at El Dorado’s departure level by my Uber driver. We shared lively conversation for the better part of our 30 minute drive through the thick of the city’s traffic. Words flowed like water, as we chopped it up about anything and everything.

“Eres un profe de football?” he asked me, seeing my bags full of soccer balls. “My son plays football, in fact, he loves football. His favorite team is Rayo Vallecano.”

“El ex-equipo de Falcao! Cierto?” I answered, with a callback to one of the greatest strikers Colombia has ever produced.

The man seemed stunned.

“Te lo dije amigo, soy colombiano!” I exclaimed.

With 15 minutes left to go in the trip, I wanted to get a gauge of how things had been in the city weather-wise. Bogota has always been hit or miss, with mornings full of rain and afternoons of sunshine, or vice versa with no rhyme or reason.

My driver answered. “Pues… it’s been raining, pero of course the work you do is amazing my friend, so life will make a way for the weather to clear and the rain to stop so you can continue to carry out ‘tus obras de amor.’”

The man was top notch and I truly wished I could have given him a football for his son, but all of mine were unfortunately spoken for already. Luckily, he was just a chill guy.

“It’s okay friend! Congratulations for you and all your work,” he said, dropping me off at my home base – a gated community in Barrios Unidos.

Our first program on the docket was a return to Fundacion Desarrollo ConSentido, an incredible community-based organization we had the pleasure of last working with back in 2021.

My contact at the foundation, Jenny, was very quick to set up a session on the fly, our schedules intersecting perfectly for a Friday afternoon program after the kids finished school.

“30 kids,” she told me, mas o menos.

I arrived accordingly with 20 tee shirts and 20 bags, just in case. Along with 10 soccer balls for the foundation. My Uber pulled in just past the hour of three and I remained outside the foundation, where Jenny greeted me warmly before rushing back in to ready the chicos.

One by one, they stepped out the foundation’s doors greeting me excitedly with a “Hola profe”, “Good morning”, and a “Como te llamas profe?”

“Esteban,” I said with a smile. “Y tu?”

“Luciana,” said a girl, one of the smallest of the crop.

The kids were quick to show off some of their English skills, while curiously asking for some translations, as kids so often do.

“Profe, que significa ‘botella’ en inglés?”

“Bottle!” I answered.

“Y balon?” “Fácil!” I exclaimed, “ball!”

“Profe?” said Luciana, with a cute little smile. “Y el ingles de Luciana?”

“Lo más fácil amiga… Luciana también!” She smiled even wider.

Just like years ago, the kids proceeded to our playing space with caution with one line leader holding up a stop sign at every intersection to block traffic while the kids proceeded in pairs to the pitch. The walk was a short one, but still, I used the small amount of time to catch up with Jenny.

“I was looking to see if there were any familiar faces present, Jenny, are there?”

“We have a lot of new kids, and a lot of them are very small… so likely not,” she answered. “But you might recognize this boy. His name is Juan. He participated in your session back in 2021, but of course he was just a little guy back then,” she said with a smile, as I turned and extended my hand to Juan, who had grown tremendously over the years, nearly reaching my height despite barely being 17 years old.

Jenny’s brain triggered a memory. “There’s another boy! He actually works with us now, just like Juan. He participated in your session too, he had glasses.”

My memory responded quickly and correctly. “He had the captain’s armband, right?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed. “He still talks about that armband,” Jenny added.

I smiled. It was a beautiful thing to hear and see, “Es como un cíclico, no?” I said, happy to see that Jenny’s work with the foundation continued to be both impactful and more so, sustainable, with those old beneficiaries coming back on as staff members.

Our catch-up continued. “Jenny, I remember last time there was a young man, I think he had Down syndrome.”

“Oh, yes!” she said, enthusiastically. “That’s Over, he’s Juan’s older brother.”

I was overjoyed to see the family connection, quickly calling Juan over and asking him to give his brother a saludo for me when he was to see him next. Our journey nearing its final destination, Jenny mentioned some recent changes the foundation had undergone, in just the past two years or so.

“So, Stephen, recently, we’ve had a shift in beneficiaries. We now have quite a bit of children who would be categorized as ‘neurodivergent’ meaning autismo, ADHD, etc.”

“Energía, respeto, y atención,” I listed off. They all nodded their heads in agreement. “Ya ‘tamos listos?” I asked. “Siiiii profe!” they exclaimed.

First, our tried and true listening drill, run by me and Jenny. Then, some dynamic relay race lines with plenty of breaks in between for the niños to practice their English with me.

“Profe tu conoces a Virginia? Tengo familia allá. Me voy por allá solo porque ya tengo mi visa.”

“Profe te gusta Santa Fe?” asked a little guy.

“No… soy de Millonarios,” I said, jokingly, knowing my allegiance lay with no particular team in the Colombian league, but wanting to grab a reaction from the homie which it very much did.

“Santa Fe pásale!” “Santa Fe, defensa!” I kept yelling out during our scrimmage, so that my guy knew I was talking directly at him.

Next on the list, we formed two circles for mano o cabeza. I paused things ever-so-quickly. “Jenny una pregunta, can we do prizes for these? Is that okay?”

“Of course!” she answered.

My group had grabbed a late arrival to the session, but an ever-so-talented one. Her name was Valentina. She even ended up taking the win! The other group’s winner? You’d never believe it. Little Luciana!

“Profe! Can we play football now?” asked some of the boys.

“Claro! Vamos chicos, ahorita tenemos un partido!”

“Yay!!!” they all exclaimed.

We split into three teams of six and with a drop of the ball, our game was underway. There were saves, flicks, feints, and fouls. It was a showcase of skills, a battleground of competition. I loved it. Meanwhile, the kids off to the side smiled, waiting patiently for their turn while moving the ball around. Another boy was happy as a clam as he commandeered my camera, shooting fotos like a seasoned pro.

Daniel, another contact from my last session back in 2021, had run some photography classes with the kids, and they sure had paid off! Also off to the side, I watched closely as a young gal grabbed my bag of prizes, pretending to run away with them.

“These are my prizes now, me voy à la casa,” she joked.

“Y sus amigos? Que triste!” I answered.

Meanwhile, Valentina exited the scrimmage to ask me a question. “Profe, mi balón?” she said, referencing the prize she had won in our earlier game.

“Tranqui amiga, tranqui… lo tenemos!”

Our time nearly up, I circled everyone back up for one last charla and to extract some feedback.

“Disfrutaste la clase de futbol?” I asked. “Yes profe!!” they yelled out loudly.

“Aprendiste algo? Raise your hand if you did!”

I was surprised, nearly half the group’s hands shot up. They were quick to share some of their favorite parts of the session.

“I learned how to play football.”

“I learned how to dribble the ball.”

“I learned a new trick!” said a sweet little girl, also named Valentina.

“Y como se llama?” I asked, just to follow up.

“La bicicleta, profe,” she said, with a smile.

“Puedes darnos un ejemplo?” I asked, adding a ‘porfis’ just for good measure.

“Claro que si, profe!” she responded, popping up to her feet and performing two perfect revolutions around an imaginary ball.

“Chicos, applauso, por favor!” I said, making sure she was lauded for her efforts.

She sat back down with the biggest smile on her face.

After, we made the quick walk back to the foundation where the kids each received either a brand new challenger sports tee or an Around the Worlds branded bag. I wanted to make sure our coaches were thanked as well, and gave them each a football for their help and collaboration. They were part of a new program that the foundation had started, that saw students from the local university offering their time and talent to hold classes for the foundation’s beneficiaries in exchange for course credit and a certification.

It was a beautiful thing and I couldn’t help but smile at the thought. “Gracias por su ayuda, profes,” I said, handing each of them a new ball as a symbol of my gratitude.

The kids were so well behaved and thankful, each hitting me with a ‘gracias profe’ on their way out to their parents standing outside the foundation’s gates. Parents even stepped in to offer words of thanks while some of the youngest in the group ran up to abrázame. It was a wonderful first day of programming and I was ecstatic to walk back through the foundation’s gates again and more so, to see that they were doing so well.

“Congratulations, Jenny, for all that you do,” I said.

“A ti tambien!” she answered. “You know you are always welcome here.”

As I hopped on the back of a motorcycle to head home, one of the boys approached me donning his new bag.

“You are very good… you are an excellent teacher,” he said, using up all the English left in his arsenal.

“Gracias my friend! You are an excellent student,” I answered, as the boy happily ran off back towards his house. This time not just wearing a new bag, but a big smile on his face.