New partnership with LACES

Will and Brian came to Liberia with a set plan: play soccer and disciple the boys at Fatu’s orphanage three times a week. Due to school exams, however, they had to delay the start of their soccer program by a week, and instead focused on tutoring the kids for their big tests. Here's the rest of the story straight from Will and Brian:

In the time we spent not playing soccer last week, we got in touch with an organization known as LACES (Life And Change Experienced thru Sports). They use soccer to teach young athletes life skills such as self esteem, respect and discipline. The field team here has been impressed with LACES and eager to partner in some way for more than a year.  After looking at our long-term vision for the boys at Fatu’s orphanage and LACES’ goals for the graduates of their nine month program, we realized that they were nearly identical. Now we're excited to announce a new partnership between Orphan Relief & Rescue and LACES.

We will be working alongside LACES staff two times a week, combining our discipleship program with theirs, learning from their experience and bringing our energy and expertise on the specific challenges that the orphans are facing. On Wednesday the boys got to meet Pastor Roberts, the coach from LACES. We played four-on-four games for about an hour with the boys. The purpose of the play was to see how the boys handle themselves in a match situation. We’ll continue to meet with Pastor Roberts to discuss what we see and how we can address each situation.

Sports bring out the best and the worst in people. We want to encourage the best and address the worst, so that they will be able to take on life outside the orphanage when they move out in a couple of years. We can’t wait to see how the young men will improve—not only as athletes, but more importantly as men. And, hopefully, this pilot program is just the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership with LACES!