RUN BEYOND BORDERS: JEEPNEY FOR PAYATAS FC AND FAIRPLAY FOR ALL

Lex at the old drop-in centre volunteering

Lexton Moy is a footballer who played for Kaya and the Philippine National Football team. At the very first tournament Payatas played in, Football for Good where the team won 3, drew 1, and lost 1, Lex was there. When we renovated the first drop-in centre from a craphole into a liveable space which built up a family for the kids and ultimately offered many out of school youth a way back into school, Lex was there. His girlfriend Cooper has come down to Payatas several times, teaching nutrition classes and volunteering. They’re both genuinely nice people and the kind of people the more you find out about the more you want to help them.

Now, they just finished their first marathon, 26.2 miles. Marathons hurt. I’ve run a couple (and forgot to train for the first one) so I know they hurt. And Lex and Cooper ran the marathon not for themselves, not for their own times and training, but for Fairplay for All. Below I’ve written about why they decided to run and what it means to the kids at Payatas. As you’re reading it and learning more, as you’re seeing the pictures and words on the page, I hope you can consider what you could give back to get involved and help children from one of the poorest slums in the country.

The Cause

A jeepney is one of the most common forms of transport in the Philippines. As with most things Filipino, it’s a mix of different cultures and ideas, to give something new that’s the best of each. An evolution on the old American vehicles that would transport troops around and because it can transport a lot of people efficiently it’s been a sustainable success in the country. Now those vehicles, and the newer models, are used for public transport. Usually 20 people fit inside one of them, but as you can see from the pictures sometimes people will even sit on the roof.

And with the rise of Payatas FC as a team with great potential, we’re joining more tournaments, invited to more events, bigger competitions, educational and fundraising trips, and with hopefully joining youth leagues in the future greater mobility is necessary to give a brighter future to the kids. And beyond the football and the one-off educational trips, we now sponsor 47 children through their school (set to increase to 60 over the next couple of months) and the vehicle will be used to transport the kids to and from school each day.

What it Means for the Kids

For most of the kids, trips to tournaments or to watch the National football team are their first trips out of Payatas

For the kids, transport and mobility is essential. As mentioned above it will also be used for their school transports as part of our education sponsorship meaning another fantastic sustainable step for the charity, allowing us to hire a full-time driver and give the children the freedom to concentrate on school not working at such young ages.

The photo to the left is of one of our kids, who actually has a great deal of potential on the pitch, staring out the window as he made his first trip out of Payatas in his life. A jumper boy when we met him, one of the kids who’d jump into the garbage trucks and pick out garbage to sell at the junkshops, he now goes to school and plays football… he has a childhood and a future again.

How to Get Involved

You can all be a part of making this happen, part of  raising money and awareness for the jeepney. This gives the children the ability to go back to school and to support Payatas FC as the children show that no matter their backgrounds, they can achieve in life, they can build a future for themselves and families, and they can represent the nation. Check out the link here, here, and here, and just for the fun of it here again as you can give money or share the blog, website, and information to friends and family. One of our players already joined the U14 girls National team training camp while plenty more have the potential to be national team players, some in the running to represent the country in the Street Child World Cup in MArch, 2014. For more information on the charity, check out this feature by FIFA Futbol Mundial here and email us at ffafoundation@gmail.com for personal replies, corporate sponsorship packages, or for any other queries:

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