Ending thoughts

After months as a long-term intern for Soccer Without Borders in Sololá, Guatemala, America feels foreign: the roads too straight, the colors of clothing and buses too boring, the volcanoes, no where to be seen, but most of all, I have left the Fútbol Sin Fronteras participants I have come to know and love. Soccer Without Borders is the abundance of equipment donated to the programs, it is all the people who visit the website, it is the games played in Baltimore, Oakland, New York, Granada, Ndejje, Kampala, and Sololá - it is a sports for development 501c3. But what I learned in Guatemala is that it is the youth and communities that embrace SWB who truly are SWB.

Imagine, if you will, you are a 10 year old indigenous girl from Solola. You are one of seven children in your family and you speak Katchiquel at home. All the women in your family wear traje tipica, or traditional indigenous dress: handmade skirts, brightly colored embroidered blouses and fabric belts. At school, you speak Spanish but you still feel shy trying to communicate. At home and in the streets your brothers play soccer with a small plastic ball but you and your older sisters help your mom with the laundry, the cleaning and the cooking. Your mom’s two sisters, their families, and your grandparents also live with you. Your aunt runs a business selling tortillas in the neighborhood and you, your mom and sisters frequently help her to prepare the dough and make the tortillas. You have never traveled outside the departemento of Sololá but you would like to see some Mayan ruins that you learned about in school. One day in school four tall gringas (or at least that’s what you think they are) come into your class. Their spanish is very funny but the games you play are fun and they seem very friendly. They invite you to play soccer at the big stadium in Sololá. You’ve never been inside the stadium but you know you mom won’t want you to leave the house to go play.

This scenario is inspired by real FSF participants. Over the past 8 months, Soccer Without Borders has shifted from the villages outside Sololá to the city of Sololá itself. Sololá is an education, transportation, and commerce center in the western highlands. It is a busy city with many economic and social services available but next to no visible foreign presence. Trying to integrate into the community in Sololá proved to be a challenge, but after a couple months the four American soccer girls became familiar faces: playing in the womens indoor tournament in the gym for team Serigrafia Tony, walking to and from stadium Xamba and Casa Deportista, greeting girls in the market, and visiting schools.

I’ll never forget meeting and spending time with the girls and their families. Joining a family for lunch or dinner offered a special opportunity to be with the girls in their family context and to appreciate the experience of being a girl in Sololá. The other interns and I were confronted with what it means to be a woman, as we looked very different from most women in the city: different hair color, wearing shorts instead of skirts, sometimes running the streets of Sololá. I was humbled and inspired by many people I met in Sololá, but especially by the girls I got to know in FSF: their bravery to embrace strangers, engage in meaningful exchange, and their perseverance in difficult circumstances.

As a long term intern I had the chance to delve headfirst into learning Spanish, initiating activities and recruiting girls. We hosted SWB Guatemala’s first camp: a weeklong event including seven additional volunteers from the US. I could not have realized the work I did in Sololá without: my friends and co-interns in Sololá, SWB supporting us from the US, and the generous donors who made my trip possible. Extra fundraised money will go to activities in Sololá to help the program continue. Matiox (Thank you in Katchiquel) to the families, girls and people of Sololá, Guatemala.