Supporter: Kyle Dietrich

December 1st is World AIDS Day. This year, Mercy Corps and Partners In Health are joining forces in Haiti to launch Foutbol pou Lavi — Soccer for Life — a program designed to harness the power of soccer to stop the spread of HIV.

On Thursday, we're gathering in the national stadium in Port-au-Prince to raise awareness about World AIDS Day and Foutbol pou Lavi. We want to increase the number of people who know their HIV status by offering Volunteer Counseling and Testing; reduce discrimination and stigma of people living with HIV through interactive discussions and educational health activities; and promote unity through mixed-gender soccer games.

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In December 2010, our Haiti Youth Program launched an 18-month Art Therapy and Youth Storytelling project. The project, supported by the State Department, aims to support children and youth to recover from trauma and lack of healthy outlets, and in doing so works to strengthen resilience, enhance coping strategies, foster self-expression, and contribute to the development of stronger individuals and a stronger civil society.

Over the course of these 18 months, we will train more than 70 Art Therapy mentors from 30 local schools and organizations, directly engaging more than 2,000 young Haitians. The project and trainings are led by our Mercy Corps team of Haitian psychologists, social workers and teachers, in collaboration with three American Art Therapy experts.

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Nine years ago I had the fortune of meeting Dr. Jane Goodall while I was working at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. Like many young people, I was filled with passion and hungry for experience, but I struggled to find opportunities to engage in meaningful work. As I told Dr. Goodall that night, it is inspiring to see someone who reaffirms with her example that it is possible to merge professional ambitions with a life of service.

While perhaps best known for her groundbreaking research on the social interactions of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania nearly 50 years ago, Dr. Goodall has since become a UN Messenger of Peace, a global humanitarian and the force behind Roots & Shoots. Roots & Shoots is a global youth program, created by Dr. Goodall in 1991, that engages youth in more than 100 countries through community service and service learning.

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For the past few years, Mercy Corps has been taking part in a campaign to raise awareness of the United Nations International Day of Peace, September 21, through sports activities.

On September 21, 2010, Mercy Corps Haiti brought together more than 300 youth from earthquake-affected areas around Port-au-Prince to present their messages of peace and unity through poetry, song, dance, theatre and illustration. Young representatives from different neighborhoods then came together for two friendly soccer matches to promote teamwork and demonstrate the remarkable soccer skills of young Haitians.

This celebration brought together partners of Mercy Corps’ Moving Forward project, which aims to reinforce the psychosocial well-being and critical life skills of underserved youth through sport and play-based activities.

Below are a few photos from the celebration.

Rain didn’t slow down our Peace Day celebration. This photo shows our talented Moving Forward coordinator, Guivens (in blue), explaining the significance behind having an International Day of Peace. Photo: Kyle Dietrich/Mercy Corps

"Nou se chanjman” (We are the Change): The boys’ match had fireworks and passion, showing us how the Haitian under-15 boys soccer team made it to the final at the Youth Olympics in August 2010. Photo: Kyle Dietrich/Mercy Corps

These two young girls presented their picture and encouraged youth to choose peace. Photo: Kyle Dietrich/Mercy Corps

It’s not only boys that play soccer in Haiti. These gifted girls came from different neighborhoods around Port-au-Prince to play a “friendly” match for peace. Photo: Kyle Dietrich/Mercy Corps

Each trained mentor in our Moving Forward project receives one of these sports kits, equipped with soccer balls, Frisbees, a first aid kit, educational materials, t-shirts and other sports materials. Photo: Kyle Dietrich/Mercy Corps

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I came to Haiti as someone who believes in seeing challenges — such as a conflict or natural disaster — as opportunities to identify and leverage large-scale social transformation.

John, age 16, documents life in a seaside village near Monrovia, Liberia during a Peace in Focus photo workshop.
Photo: Kyle Dietrich/Mercy Corps

Up until the earthquake, I had been running my own non-profit in Boston, which trains youth from post-conflict communities to be peacebuilders and leaders using photography and new media tools. Similar to that program, our Youth Leadership project in Haiti — supported by our MPower initiative — aims to enable young people to engage in a creative process that is both therapeutic and empowering. Through photography and storytelling, youth will learn to understand and nurture their own voice and vision for change, and then develop a unique skill set to share that vision with their community and the world.

This work builds off my several years supporting international development and peacebuilding programs with UN Peacekeeping Operations, USAID and the Peace Corps in Turkmenistan, Burundi, Liberia and Washington, D.C. Throughout my career, I have been eager to see more innovative programs for youth to engage in the revitalization and rebuilding of their communities.

By putting youth in leadership roles you enable them at a young age to begin taking ownership of the issues facing their communities. By integrating the arts, you give them an opportunity to develop creative and non-violent strategies for understanding and addressing those issues. This signals to the community that youth are not merely the future generation of leaders, but the present generation as well.

For Haiti to truly transform, there must be a profound re-imagination of what is possible here. This program supports the idea that that re-imagination can be led by youth. It allows young people to be agents of change rather than mere beneficiaries of programs. It supports the belief that, in order to be successful long-term, development programs must address the emotional and social needs of children and youth, alongside their physical and material needs.

With my position with the UN, I helped organize youth groups like this one in northeastern Burundi to use community theater to raise awareness about sexual violence and other issues.
Photo: Kyle Dietrich/Mercy Corps

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