Written by Carlos: Our director of Soccer Operations and Entrepreneurship
Mayra has four kids. Mayra had four kids. Mayra is an alcoholic. But this story isn’t just about her.
Santi is the oldest of four siblings. Everyone says they know who Santis’ dad is, except Santi. We met Santi a few years back at our community kitchen where he would bring his younger sister who was 1 years old at the time to eat. He was one of the kids we knew who always came hungry. The ones we knew were only getting the food we provided to eat each week.
One day however, Santi came by the community kitchen after practice and brought a bucket of small homemade donuts. Our MARKED soccer boys bought every last one. His mom made him try and sell the donuts again the next day, and the next, and the next. When the soccer boys could no longer buy him out, Santi was sent to a town nearly 40 minutes away to sell donuts and beg for loose change, most times with his younger sister in tow. Santi was 7 then.
There were many times the soccer team remembers walking past Mayra who would be propped up against the wall, passed out drunk. Santi was afraid to leave her so there he would stay, holding his wailing, soiled, hungry sister. One day Mayra went to this same town, filled with Americans and Canadians to beg for money and didn’t come home. Weeks later she would return, hair dyed blonde, pulled up in a new car with her new gringo boyfriend; grey hair, shorts, socks, crocs, and a floppy hat, you get the picture. This was the last time they saw Mayra.
It was then Santi and his siblings moved in with their grandma.
Today, they are happy, fed, healthier, and able to be kids, maybe for the first time ever. Santi is excited about being able to start school for the first time next school year. Santi is now 9. It is not easy on the widowed grandmother who now has 4 little kids to care for, since her husband passed of alcoholism a few years back. But thats when our MARKED soccer team started to notice. It was then they reached out to me with their idea.
Ronaldo, one of our players, has watched the situation unfold and knew he needed to help. He asked if we could get donations together and deliver it to her. Together they bought oil, flour, rice, beans, veggies, fruit and Ronaldo arranged it in little wooden boxes. He delivered the boxes to Santi’s grandma and she gleamed with joy, not just from the gift but because who the gift was from… her community. It was different than a handout, it was a hug, provisions for a meal to soon be shared, a “see you tomorrow.”
Disclaimer: As a culture they are taught to not smile in pictures. But she was HAPPY! We also will not be posting a photo of the children/ Santi for safety and privacy purposes.
Santi returned the boxes a few minutes later with a huge smile on his face and wrapped his arms around Ronaldos waist, eyes closed. It was one of the most genuine hugs I’ve ever witnessed. A hug for a hero. A hug for a role model of a different way of life than he had witnessed before from his community. Someone from his same street championing change.
We know many stories have layers, and this one certainly does. Today, Santi is still apart of not only our community kitchen but also plays soccer with our littles. We pray for Mayra, for her safety and redemption to this families story. And we celebrate our boys who took notice and acted on what they saw. Every day they surprise us with their growth and the transformation that is taking place in their own hearts. Hungry for more, and being forerunners for change. This is what it is all about.