Anniversary celebration at the community center in Destra

We came together with the community in Destra to celebrate 8 years of GOALS programs! We sang, we danced, told stories and ate cake. The kids were excited to participate and it was great to see the older kids share stories and songs with the younger ones.

Our program coordinator Emilio (who has been with GOALS from the start) told of how the program came to be in Destra. As he talked of how our founder, Kona, was inspired by witnessing kids playing soccer in the sugar cane fields around the community you could see the elders in the community nodding their heads in remembrance and agreement.

It was lovely to see the oral traditions that are so strong, especially in rural communities, within Haiti carry on the founding story of GOALS.

“I founded GOALS as a true grassroots effort. The fact that we are now celebrating our 8th year is testament to the hard work of our coaches and staff, the remarkable support from our donors and volunteers, and the power of sport to make serious development work fun.” - Kona Shen

To see more pics from the celebration check out the album on Facebook.

We look forward to more years to come as we strive to improve conditions and foster young leaders in rural Haiti who will advance opportunities not only for themselves but for their whole communities.