The soccer team players said it was the best trip they had ever gone on, they all went, thanks to you, to the Ramblewild Forest Adventure Park in Massachusetts where they spent four hours way up in the trees, walking on rope bridges, mastering obstacle courses, hanging over a 100 foot high walkway, with helmets, special gloves and and zip wires.
I met them at the park for lunch afterwards, and i took some portraits, which I’ll put up in the morning. Ramblewild has five or six different adventures, and I hope to get the team back there again in the Fall. It was special to them.
I had and important time talking with them about their lives back in Asia, their struggles to adapt in America, and their love of Ali and the soccer team. I’ll write about that in the morning.
Special thanks to Derek and Ramblewild for donating climbing gloves to the team, they can use them in soccer practice.
These trips and activities for the refugee soccer players are made possible by your contributions. I’d like to send them to the New England Aquarium and we have to pay for some soccer time and equipment. Your help is invaluable.
If you can contribute, please send a donation to The Gus Fund, c/o Jon Katz. P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected]. And thanks so much.
This was a very special day.
Hi Jon- do the girls in all these families ever want to go out and do whatever they like to do to bond with each other and have a sisterhood? I know the female culture is different for them and maybe they don’t want to go with the boys, but what about something separate for all the sisters in these families? If Ali can’t do it, what about another trusted female using army of good funds to take the girls?
Mary, generally, the girls do not opt for the same activities as the soccer team, I am the sponsor of the soccer team, which has one or two female members who do not wish to be photographed. I have no reason to assume this activity is something refugee girls in the area might want to do. And I cannot sponsor everyone. In general, refugee girls do not participate in sports with males, do not undress around them or wish to be photographed or written about. Actually the bulk of the money given to my refugee fund goes to adult women, mothers with sons and daughters, they get about 70 per cent of the funds. The photos and stories of these women have all been published on my blog. Of the adult refugees helped, all but one are female. None of the girls has ever requested assistance from me, beyond uniforms we purchased for the girls basketball team. And I am not in contact with all of the refugee children in the area. And no, I am not starting a separate fund for the girls, I don’t do gender specific fund-raising or dispersals. There is only one of me, and I also have to earn a living. I can’t imagine how one would even do that. If it’s something that interests you, I would encourage you to do it or contact your local refugee organization.