Soccer Dreams Without Borders is an organization committed to providing educational opportunities to African children who are living on the street, living with life threatening diseases, have parents who are dying of HIV/AIDS or orphaned. The international language is soccer and the currency is soccer accessories.

The immediate goal is to provide soccer accessories to thousands of children who play with bare feet, use rolled up rags or banana leaves for a ball, play on a dirt field or in the street and can only dream of playing in a world cup. Through this means of communication, our ultimate goal is to improve the lives of these children through education.

Soccer Accessories As Currency

In 2005 over twenty pairs of used soccer shoes and some shin pads were collected for distribution at Fountain Of Hope, a home for children living on the street in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa. Upon arriving boys and girls were playing soccer on a dirt field. One young boy was attempting to tie his very worn out tennis shoe with a weed and we offered to help by providing a rubber band. He thanked us and got back into the game that was made up of many children who were barefoot, had no uniforms, a worn out “ball” and rocks that outlined the goal.

The shoes that we delivered to Africa were taken by the headmaster at Fountain of Home and were given to those students who performed and achieved goals that were agreed upon. The students received the equipment at an awards ceremony.

A New Program is Envisioned

Since our 2005 trip, several families have asked whether we plan to collect soccer accessories for another trip. We are planning to do so and broaden our sources beyond a couple of teams since the number of children at Fountain of Hope will continue to grow. As a result of the success or our first trip, we have envisioned a program designed to assist these children through the language and currency of soccer. Our plan is to:

• Collect used and unsold soccer accessories from soccer clubs, individuals, sporting goods stores, etc.
• Provide the soccer accessories to nonprofit organizations offering formal education and HIV/AIDS awareness programs.
• Distribute the equipment to children in partnership with the nonprofit organization.
• Sister and brother African teams will be established with those USA youth associations contributing to SDWB.
• A SDWB Newsletter will be published periodically that includes articles about USA youth soccer, Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) youth soccer, soccer dreams come true and profiles of great soccer players.
• An award program will be implemented that recognizes individuals and associations that make the greatest contribution to African youth soccer.