And they are our future.
As soon as I unpacked the footballs and pumps, the boys and girls gathered around. They all wanted to help pump up the footballs and watch me do my footballing tricks. As a football coach and a primary school teacher I am used to working with children, they are the best of humanity. They didn’t speak any German and I didn’t speak Moldovan, but sport is a universal language and I hope that I managed to convey to them my enormous appreciation to them for letting me be part of their lives even if just for a few days. We were certainly able to laugh in the same language.
When I was in Moldova I saw for myself that the summer camps have such a positive effect on these children's lives. Victor was great, he is one of the volunteers who runs the sports programme at camp every year but back in his childhood he was one of the boys in the Mission Without Borders child sponsorship programme, it is the love and support that he was shown back then that makes him want to give back now.
That is what stayed with me, the love and appreciation we show these children are literally absorbed by them. That is something I won’t forget.
Martin, former professional footballer and coach from Switzerland, supporting our work with children
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