The World Cup is coming to Provo — kind of.
Sowers of Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the education and economy in Africa, is hosting a world cup tournament to raise money for a secondary education school in the Bukavu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The event will be held at the seven peaks soccer fields on Nov. 2 from 7p.m.-9p.m. and Nov.3 from noon-3p.m . Those who wish to support the cause may watch the games, donate money there or donate online at sowersofhope.org.
In World Cup tradition, each team will be representing a country of their choice. David Lake, a public relations student working on the Sowers of Hope campaign, has already put together a team to participate, and they are representing the United States. Teams can choose the country they would like to represent when signing up for the tournament.
[media-credit name=”Courtesy Sowers of Hope” align=”alignright” width=”300″]<a href=”http://universe.byu.edu/?attachment_id=146378″ rel=”attachment wp-att-146378″><img class=”size-medium wp-image-146378″ src=”http://universe.byu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/1092852_orig-300×225.jpeg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”225″ /></a>[/media-credit]Lake said he usually wouldn’t pay money to enter a soccer tournament, and he was skeptical at first of this organization due to a saturation of non-profit organizations for Africa in the area. He quickly realized that they have genuine intentions, and an effective business model.
“‘Every dollar counts’ is the mentality (Sowers of Hope) takes,” Lake said.
Another member of “Team USA” is Michael Richardson, a BYU graduate. He said doesn’t know much about the organization yet, but he’s excited to be a part of the tournament.
“If I can play soccer to help people in Africa, that’s fine with me,” Richardson said.
Ryan Madsen, a senior from Spokane Wash. majoring in international relations, is an intern at Sowers of Hope. He said Sowers of Hope is looking forward to this becoming an annual event because of how well soccer ties into their cause.
“Doing a soccer tournament brings in a worldwide sport that is even in these war-torn and at-risk countries we are trying to help,” Madsen said.
Amberly Asay, director of Sowers of Hope, said this event will provide a good portion of the money needed to build the school when the group travels there this August.
“We raised $20,000 to purchase the land, and we need about $20,000 more so we can go and build the school,” Asay said.
Members of the non-profit hope the soccer tournament will appeal to college students, and get them involved in the cause for educating children in Africa.
“Education is what really changes the world,” Asay said. “Basically, we want to raise awareness of the power education has.”
Sowers of Hope will be holding events throughout the year to raise enough money for the Bukavu school. Those interested in donating, or finding a way to get involved, can go to their website sowersofhope.org.
