By: Rob Scruggs
“Send me Refuge” is a Christian Mission Organization that reaches out to the poor and underserved population in Tapachula, Mexico. The primary focus of this group is to help educate people living in landfills outside the city, as well as supply them with clean drinking water. As you can imagine teaching the children about sanitation there as well as keeping them out of trouble is a daily battle.
This is one of the areas that Truth FC helps shine a light on and even helps inspire these children to understand that there are many pathways out of poverty. By giving these children soccer gear and showing them that people are thinking about them helps build their confidence and social skills. We have found that this is just one of the many small steps to helping break the poverty cycle.
Having been on several of these trips myself, it is the younger children that are needing activities to occupy their time and keep them entertained. Seeing the faces of these children light up when you hand them a soccer ball and a practically new uniform is the best part of any day. Having seen this happen with my own eyes, once you hand 1 or 2 kids in a village some soccer balls and outfit them with a matching outfit, kids will start to just appear and come out of every nook and cranny. Before you know if there will be 20 + kids asking for gear.
As soccer is a global sport and more prevalent in countries outside the United States, there is no need to do anything more than just hand them the gear. I have watched kids from 5-15 years old create a 2x team soccer game almost out of thin air to include a referee. It is amazing to see and my only thought is always that I want to do more.
2021 has been a hard year and getting access to international travel has not been easy. Due to the Covid-19 travel regulations and restrictions we were required to get tested both before we left and another test while we were there which certainly ate up some of our time and resources. We needed to get down there so we could better understand their needs as well as determine what impact Truth FC could have. We came to the conclusion that this is going to be one of our sustainable orphanages and there are plans to go back there this summer to continue the efforts.
The mission of Truth FC is to upcycle soccer gear from the United States and deliver it to children around the world. They keep impact high by piggybacking on mission trips already planned and sending the gear directly to the international organizations.
*Truth FC is a non-profit 501-c3