The PeacePassers were proud to join The First Presbyterian Church of Gainesville, Florida on a mission trip to Esteli, Nicaragua during the first week of July, 2009. PeacePasser team member Stephen Decker and the rest of the mission team from Gainesville, Florida worked extremely hard laying the foundation for two different houses.  The houses were for people of the congregation of Shalom Presbyterian Church, Esteli, Nicaragua.  Clearing the land and mixing the concrete by hand was no easy feat!

In the afternoon heat the PeacePassers were proud to provide soccer equipment to run clinics for the youth of the church and the surrounding areas.  At the end of the trip the PeacePassers donated 4 different team sets of jerseys for the youth teams of the Shalom Church, as well as 20 soccer balls and coaching equipment such as cones and pennies.  The jerseys were graciously donated by Buchholz High School, Gainesville Florida and The Gainesville Soccer Alliance, also from Gainesville, Florida.  It was an amazing week for everyone involved.

June, 2009
Words from Kari Cope (PeacePassers volunteer):

Every main road in Zambia seems to intersect with innumerable dirt roads winding back into villages filled with thatched roof homes and hundreds of people, many of whom struggle to provide their families with basic necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing. As we followed the roads into many of these villages we almost always came upon kids playing soccer, often with homemade balls fashioned out of tied up plastic bags. It was a thrill to be able to provide the people of many of these communities with PeacePasser balls and soccer equipment!

During our time volunteering with World Hope International we were able to witness and take part in many of the organization’s ministries which celebrate and affirm the dignity of the people served.  Some of these projects included working in a community garden, visiting the homes of orphaned and vulnerable children and of those afflicted with AIDS and other illnesses, and helping to host a children’s rally for children sponsored through the Hope for Children program. Two members of our team even got to meet children who they have been sponsoring financially for the past year. We spent one day in the village of Mungule, playing with the kids, eating a traditional Zambian lunch, and visiting homes. We were very excited to discover that the village has youth soccer teams. Because of PeacePassers, and donations from Madison Soccer Club and the Minnesota Thunder Academy, we were able to leave two complete sets of uniforms for these teams! We also left balls with several of the community trusts and churches in the villages we visited and gave jerseys to 11 of the orphaned and vulnerable children who we met on home visits. Several of these kids came to the children’s rally proudly wearing their new jerseys!

In spite of the constant struggle that daily life entails for many Zambians we found the people to be warm, welcoming, joyful, and hopeful. An abundance of joy was certainly evident on the faces of children and adults alike as we passed off the PeacePassers gear! Thank you, Candace and PeacePassers, for allowing us to be the vehicle in getting those bags to Africa. It was a great privilege to be a part of it!

~ K.Cope

Click below to watch video’s from the trip!

PeacePassers would like to wish safe travels to volunteer Kari Cope (who also traveled to Haiti back in March 2009) as she is now crossing borders again this June 2009, taking 2 bags full of PeacePassers gear to her destination in Zambia. Kari and a longtime friend are going on a special trip with World Hope International to Zambia, which is in southeast Africa. (http://www.worldhope.org/countries/zambia.htm)The gear includes 2 Diadora bags filled with balls, boots, shorts, & full sets of jerseys that were donated from Madison Soccer Club (Susanne von der Linde in Madison New Jersey) & from the Minnesota Thunder Academy (Cara Sierks in Minneappolis, MN).

This is what we like to call “Peace Passin in the parking lot”. After an evening match with the Charlotte Women’s soccer league, Candace Cooper passes over two bags of gear to Kari Cope in preparation for her trip to Africa.

The PeacePassers team would like to thank the mission group from Matthews United Methodist Church (Matthews, NC) for volunteering to take 24 PeacePasser soccer balls to Bocachica, Colombia on their recent trip in May 17-24th , 2009.

Jeannette Coggins (Matthews UMC) tells PeacePassers “It was a very successful mission trip.  This was the third trip to this area for these students, so they were very excited to see the friends they have made there again.  Each and every team member was very focused on their purpose, and they all worked so hard together to get their projects completed.  They were able to build several latrines and a cistern for the island community.  They mixed cement by hand and poured a couple of floors for homes.  Of course, the highlight of the trip was distributing the soccer balls.  The guys there were so happy to receive them – and some were speechless when they realized that the balls were theirs to keep!”

Earl Coggins wrote us saying “there is an outdoor full length basketball court with half concrete walls around the court and that is where all the boys come to play soccer. Last year they were playing with a half flat ball.  What a joy they are going to have with these balls.”

We appreciate Earl Coggins and his daughter Beth Coggins for working with the PeacePassers to make this equipment donation a success. Also many thanks to Jeannette Coggins & Mr. Ben Icard (UMC) for coordinating several Spring shipments to Unitedvile, Belize in March 2009.
We look forward to continued connections with the Matthews UMC teams!