What was once a dusty, rocky, dirt field is now a state-of-the-art soccer pitch with artificial turf and lights that normally stay on late into the night as community clubs and neighborhood children practice and play on the field.

LWF Jerusalem purposely held this video for release on July 7th, to coincide with the beginning of the final week of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brasil. Many of the kids in the video dream of being a great footballer one day. With much sadness, the release of the video also comes at a time of tragedies and heightened tensions in Jerusalem. As if to express the collective grief and frustration of the community, the field has been dark and silent on recent nights.

This is one of a series of videos I produced this year with Mark Brown for The Lutheran World Federation Jerusalem Program.

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High in the Haitian hills, near the border with the Dominican Republic lies the village of Thiotte. That evening, we made our way to the far side of town for a soccer match. The local team versus a nearby village. It seemed like every young person in town was there. The crowd formed a ring round the dusty field as the two teams, wearing used American uniforms, battled for bragging rights. It was a lovely, cool evening. The setting sun cast a golden hue as fans cheered on their team and vendor hawked their wares.

Thiotte emerged victorious, beating the visitors 2-0. The fans erupted in wild cheering. Players joyfully ripped off their jerseys, twirling them in the air.

Celebrating their victory, the team and fans ran off the field and down a narrow jungle path. As we jogged, I imagined we were headed for a large victory celebration. To my surprise, we popped back out on the road in the middle of town. It turned out the crowd was just going home. Since everyone walks in Haiti, I think they were just using the emotion of the victory to propel them on their way.
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