Music
We are in San Antonio Palopó, one of the municipalities of the department of Zorolac, and it is one of the only municipalities in the entire country of Guatemala that does not have a place where children, young people or adults can have fun.
Here in this school I have 571 students, but the students of the other school that are approximately 450 to 500, more than 1000 students do not have where to be recreated.
Instead of going to do sports, they dedicate themselves to drug addiction, go to drink alcohol, that is, alcohol drinks in a canteen, or they find out antisocial groups doing damage to the people.
It is a pretty large population and the concern, as you can see around you right now, all children are on the street because we do not have a recreation space.
There is the risk that the children, as you can see, are running, they do not measure the consequences, they are there, they pass the cars, and it is a big problem.
We can only fall, we can hurt ourselves because there is a big stone and we can hurt ourselves.
It is very small and sometimes it is very difficult to play football.
And no one knows how to play football, what they know is to kick the ball, it is not to play football, because there is no one.
They may not know theoretically what football is, because they do not have a place where to practice.
My name is Drew Chafitz, I'm the co-founder of Love Football and we help communities take on their own soccer field projects.
So right now we are heading to San Antonio Palapo, it has been a long time, and now we are finally in a project.
The way we get to San Antonio Palapo is we take a two and a half hour drive from Guatemala City and we arrive in Solola, which is where Love Football is based in Guatemala.
The beginning of that is what we call our engagement phase, at which time we begin discussions with the community leadership about how a lot of our works, what we do, what our goals are.
Love Football, as you can see in our name, it is about passion, it is based in passion.
Now we have been able to get a nice place that is right here in front of us and it is going to be the next project of Love Football.
We provide raw materials, which is a weak link for the types of communities we target, and the community offers all of the volunteer labor and they organize and execute their own projects.
They also donate their lands.
What interests me most about Love Football is the effect it has on communities and other positive impacts that arise from this simple soccer field.
Our goal is really to involve the community around this project as much as possible.
This afternoon we were asked to come and collaborate here. I am with the center of the school to give a little support so that when we are playing here we can say that we are collaborating.
Third is for our projects to serve as a platform for future development.
One of the best things for me definitely was seeing how excited the kids were to have this place to play.
We could barely keep them off the field before the inauguration.
It is better in the field.
Why is it better?
Because there is no car without a brake.
It is a very special day for the kids.
I am excited about what I am seeing right now. It is a dream that has come true.
Now they have a safe place to be and a place where they can have fun without any danger.
It has been a dramatic change from an underdeveloped, useless area that was a parking lot into a soccer field that the community can use.
Football is a catalyst. That means that football comes to a community and makes everything come out of nowhere.
For example, a mine is being built, another building in front is being built, gardens are being made around the field.
That makes and transforms a lot of situations. That is the most incredible thing.
Football involves the people, the municipality, the children, the parents, the teachers, all of them.
Football is a heritage of the people.
We have been working in Guatemala since 2006 and focused on internal operations.
Currently, our goal is really changing so that we can focus more on growth and expanding our mission in new places.
Let's go!
We play football every day.
I want to be a footballer.
