OA Projects is a low-cost, high-impact grassroots organization using the power of soccer to help youth affected by war.
Please, visit our 'About OA' links to learn more about OA Projects, as an organization.
To watch some of the journal entries from our recent pilot project in Gulu, please check out our daily video blogs on YouTube
Or join our facebook group and stay connected with everything happening.
Our 1 for 1 organic tee stock has finally been temporarily filled. We are sorry for the delay but things have been busy for our small team.
The shirts are available only online for the next 3 weeks and we have a limited number (140 or so). The popular fire tree design is available in the usual colors as well as in a new purple (or ultraviolet) shade and in women’s sizes. The polaroid design is also back and in the popular black version of it.
Last year, during our pilot project in Gulu, we purchased 210 balls (see below for pics) for the local soccer-based peacebuilding framework that we are supporting. This was partly due to the fact that 160 1 for 1 tees were purchased before the project started (The Charity Pot of LUSH Cosmetics made up the rest!). We are hoping to sell all of the 140 shirts before the end of the 3 weeks to guarantee the minimum amount of balls that we need to buy in Uganda this year. If you guys blow us away with your efforts and it gets to the point where we don’t need any more soccer balls for this year, then the funds will be used to buy other important equipment (e.g., local first aid kits for each team).
Shirts are available here: 1 FOR 1 and we get enough interest we will order more. Thanks for your continued support of the youth in northern Uganda.
New balls bought in Gulu, Uganda - June 09 — with funds from sales of 1 for 1 tees
YCFP member Anthony, distributing balls to a partner primary school in Gulu, UgandaOn January 9th, two soccer players from Richmond put on a Play Soccer So They Can event in their hometown. The game was a a mix of international level players and first-timers, and everyone had a good time and their share of shinning moments. Team Sari ended up defeating Team Masumi by one goal, but the final score wasn’t what truly matter as people came together for a common cause and new friendships were built — all through a simple game of soccer. In total, the group raised over $800 to support soccer-based peacebuilding in northern Uganda.
Group shot after the game. Masumi Turnbull
Some of you may know, or are just finding out now, that we are the social project partner of The Buried Life (which premiers tonight on MTV at 10pm). As a result of this, MTV has offered to help support OA’s project expansion in northern Uganda this year. If 75,000 or more sign up for The Buried Life’s Facebook Fan Page (click here), then they will provide the funds needed to run a Soccer Camp for Peace for at least 80 youth who have been affected by the recent conflict. In addition to the five-days of activities, the support also includes costs for training local leaders on soccer coaching, leadership and peacebuilding, and to equip these coaches (and the community groups that they are from) with the required soccer resources to carry on with the activities. For more information on the project, click here.
If you want to want to get more involved with what OA is doing, and help increase our expansion of activities in northern Uganda, here are some ways to do so (easiest to hardest):
1. Send around the OA website to your friends.
2. Join our Facebook Group or become a Fan of OA on Facebook.
3. Watch our video journals from northern Uganda and send us your feedback. Click here.
4. Host a soccer game or tournament in your community as part of our Play Soccer So They Can community, bringing people together to play soccer so that war affected youth can as well.
or
5. Think of something much bigger and send us an email about it: (oa@oaprojects.org)
We are excited to partner with The Buried Life and MTV and we hope that you get involved and support the war-affected youth as they rebuild their community and culture after the devastating 22-year conflict.
By Gavin Hollett
We are very excited to report that Play Soccer So They Can successfully launched this past year with participants from all over North America. From a pick up game by medical students at Queens University in Ontario ($100 raised) to a full scale tournament in Hollywood, California (over $500 raised), many people came together to play soccer so that war affected youth in northern Uganda can too. (The group in LA even produced a video, check it out here)
Although some groups that wanted to participate were unable to for various reasons, the Play Soccer So They Can community raised over $2,600 and continues to do so. Over the holidays, a grade 12 student in Victoria, BC, ran a soccer camp for younger students in her school to build support for soccer-based peacebuilding. Additionally, a former University of Kentucky men’s player hosted a game this weekend in Richmond for soccer players wanting to support the youth in northern Uganda — they raised over $800 (pushing the total over $3,000)!
(students from Queen’s medical school after their game — credits to C. Newcombe)
Some of the other participating teams/games in 2009 were:
The funds raised by your collective efforts will be put to use during a 4-month project expansion in northern Uganda this year. Between April and July, OA will be working with our partner, the Youth Coalition for Peace, to continue to help establish a locally driven peacebuilding framework that connects war affected youth with local youth leaders to play soccer and to discuss important post-conflict issues related to community reintegration, peacebuilding and gender equity. The full project expansion proposal is available now here.
Click here for a short video that will give you a visual of how your funds will make an impact on the ground, during the upcoming project.
More photos and updates will come in the next few days as will more information about Play Soccer So They Can’s plans for 2010 and our budding partnership with a large youth soccer association in Vancouver, Canada.
A huge thanks to all who participated and helped kick start the community.
Financial support is the single biggest contribution one can make to enable our projects.
Please send a cheque made payable to Opportunitas Aequa to
#201 - 5880 Hampton Place, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 2E9
Or, you can buy an organic t-shirt from our online shop where we guarantee that for every shirt sold a new soccer ball is bought for a community building soccer program.
1 for 1 Store
Follow your support from internet to the soil via oaprojects.org!