Reflection

Image by Flickr user Imran…

We’ve written before about our location in Philadelphia. Despite the international scope of our work here at ELISE, Philly is home. So we were excited yesterday when it was announced that Philadelphia is a contender to host a World Cup game in 2018 or 2022, if the United States is given the games. (Seventeen other U.S. cities, coast to coast, would also host matches.) Hosting the World Cup would enable us—finally—to cast Philly in a positive light. And also, I really like soccer.

But not long after the good news, a tragedy to obliterate the warm fuzzies: a magnitude seven earthquake in Haiti, destroying most of Port-au-Prince and potentially causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Haitian residents. And the first thing I thought of when the news hit last night? Soccer.

A few months ago, a friend of Carrie’s mentioned a project he was working on to try to deliver the World Cup to Haiti. The ELISE team was interested and did a little bit of research on this endeavor, thinking it segued nicely with our work in poverty alleviation and education. While the efforts to bring soccer on a large scale to this small island nation remain up in the air, we became quite familiar with Haiti and its robust and often volatile history. For better or for worse, yesterday’s quake affected us just a little more because it didn’t happen halfway around the world in a country we’d never heard of, but in a place not too far from American shores that we felt we’d gotten to know, if only a little.

This isn’t a post about PR. It’s a post about solidarity. As some of our favorite columnists here at ELISE reflect on the tragedy that befell the people of Haiti yesterday, we’re sending thoughts to Port-au-Prince, too. Here’s hoping that in no time at all, the soccer—and the joy—will find its way to you.