Dear all,
A year ago, Play31 was officially incorporated in the state of New
York. As we all know, growing older leads people (and organizations)
to ponder about past shenanigans and about what the future may bring.
As the Founder of Play31, this is what I think Play31 would think
about on her first birthday:
She would reminisce about how she was conceived after an encounter
with three boys in rural Sierra Leone who had an overwhelming love for
the Beautiful Game but only a wrecked plastic ball to play with. And
about the hundreds of kids she donated footballs to before even being
incorporated. She would remember the pride when she was first assigned
a real board. And the lump in her throat as she was celebrating new
years’ eve with three communities in Kailahun District who, after
playing in her tournament, reconciled and put their differences from
the war behind them. She would think about all the thousands of people
who have been part of her tournaments in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and
Liberia as players and spectators.
She would look ahead and think about the prospects for consolidating
her efforts in West Africa and spreading into new parts of the world
(such as the tentative proposal to go to Yemen and work with Somali
refugees). She would be honored when thinking of how the new board,
consisting of UN Ambassadors and authors and other outstanding
individuals, will take her to new heights. And about how she is about
to become officially incorporated in Denmark, too.
Finally, now with tears in her eyes, she would send heart-felt
gratitude to all of you who have supported her in this first year. She
would say that she hopes you will all continue to help her grow even
bigger, fatter and cuter for her second birthday next year!
Hip, hip hooray for Play31 and may the balls keep bouncing!
With love for the Beautiful Game,
Jakob
October 10th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
congrats …Well done, go go go.
October 17th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
congratulations to play31. Well done so far. Loooking forward to following you the next many years
November 6th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
You guys rock!!!