English class with Hailey

For the month of July, we've been fortunate enough to have Hailey, a Teach for America Teacher in Texas, as our most recent volunteer. Hailey has helped transform "Homework night" (Thursday nights at the office) into Clase de Ingles. Kids can still come with their homework, but the appeal of learning English seems far more popular. Homework night has been difficult to nail down, as it seems the kids don't have much homework at all. In a city full of tourists, that imports a lot of its pop culture from the US, learning English is a valuable skill both professionally and in order to under a lot of the music and movies that surround them. Hailey has put her classroom teaching skills to work as the class has averaged over 30 girls the last few weeks!

Hotel Con Corazon! from Carly and Cesar

On July 3, four of the coaches from Futbol Sin Fronteras went and helped out another Non-Profit organization here in Granada, named Hotel Con Corazon. Hotel Con Corazon is a hotel founded by two dutch gentleman who wanted to help out the people of Granada. All of the profits of the hotel go to the Hotel Con Corazopn foundation which is involved in numerous activities in and around Granada. To name a few: they employ a hotel staff of solely Nicaraguans, purchase only local products from local suppliers, provide small loans for Nicaraguan entrepreneruers, help their staff and suppliers to finish their educations, and work with many of the surrounding campesinos (small towns in the country) to provide further educational opportunities, supplies for schools, and education to improve their town infrastructures. It is a really cool program and we were very excited to collaborate with them and hope to do so more in the future.

http://www.hotelconcorazon.com/

Below is a blog post from Cesar describing the event that he was able to help with. He wrote it in Spanish and we translated it together into English.

On July 3, Soccer Without Borders and Hotel Con Corazon had a Super Event in the Region Lagoon II in the School Bertha Gutiérrez. The event consisted of donating material of studies (books, school supplies, pamphlets, and guides), sport materials (balls, cones...donations from Soccer Without Borders). The event started a little behind schedule becasue so many more poeple came than expected. We had a schedule packed full of fun events, many national games, traditional dances, popular dances, competitions and other forms of entertainment. There were approximately 300 people, among them the majority were little girls and boys. The region Lagoon II is located approximately to 10 km outside of the city of Granada and it is a zone very little populated and their inhabitants are of few economic resources, in spite of that the people are very affectionate, amiable, and the many desire to surpass themselves and to continue their educations beyond that of their families. The team of Soccer Without Borders was comprised of Allan, David, Chepe, and Cesar. We were responsible for entertaining the children and teaching them soccer skilles. We played many games and the kids showed much interest and a very good level of play. It was the first tome that many of the girls had ever played soccer, and we had to teach them the objective and the rules. Despite not knowing much about soccer, they played very well and many had great athletic ability. Soccer is usually played by boys throughout much of Nicaragua. At the end, some of the boys challenged us to a game and of course we won! But we were very surprised by their level of futbol.
It was a great event and we were very happy to be involved and look forward to working in future events. It felt good to help out those less fortunate. It was also a good experience to make us appreciate the opportunities we have here in Granada with our families, our schooling, and the available sports we have.

Interview with Allan- from Carly

Todays interview is with Allan. Allan is not only a great and fun coach, but also a great student. He is currently going to University in Managua (2 hours each day on the bus!) studying International Business and Supply Chains. He and Cesar are also participating in a Youth Leadership Program that they both won a scholarship for. A busy guy!

1) What is your name? Allan David Baltodano Arguello

2) How old are you? I’m 20 years old.

3) What is your favorite food and why? My favorite food is “Pollo en Vino” (chicken in wine sauce) because it is delicious.

4) What is your favorite place in Nicaragua? Why? My favorite place in Nicaragua is San Juan Del Sur because it is fun to play futbol on the beach with my friends.

5) Do you have brothers and sisters? Yes, I have four sisters and two brothers and I have one twin sister.

6) How long have you been involved with Futbol Sin Fronteras? 5 months.

7) What do you like most about Futbol Sin Fronteras? I get to share my ideas with my teammates and I get to help the girls develop their soccer skills.

8) What do you want to do when you grow up? First, I want to finish university and then I would like to find a job working for an organization that helps the poor. I would also like to own my own business.

10) What have you learned working with Futbol Sin Fronteras? I have learned that we can learn more and accomplish more working as a team. I’ve also learned how to teach and share my experiences with the girls.

11) What is your favorite class in school and why? My favorite class is international trade, because it interests to me learn how everything is mobilized by what we use on a daily basis.

12) What is your fave hobby? I like to listen to music and play soccer. When I do both of these things I am relaxed.

13) Do you like soccer? Why? Yes, I love it. It is the sport that I practiced from a very young age. It is exciting and fun.

14) Who is your favorite volunteer? Carly, Myra, Allison and Hailey.

15) What would you like to say to people that have helped Futbol Sin Fronteras? All of your help, donations, and work is going to a great cause. I hope we all can continue to grow as a family and help more people.

16) What is your favorite soccer team? Why? And favorite player? Why? My favorite team is Real Madrid because of its great history and grand players. My favorite player is Zinedine Zidane because he plays with elegance and peace.

17) Vigoron o Pizza? (Vigoron is a National Dish here…fried pork skins and yuca served with vinegar in a banana leaf? Both are delicious.

18) Pele or Maradona? Maradona because he had some of the best goals in the world in the biggest competitions. He is a legend.