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H.O.P.E Help Other People Endure
What is H.O.P.E? • Three hours outside of Johannesburg, South Africa lies a small, impoverished village called Langkloof. Most of the children in this village are orphans whose parents have died of AIDS. Many consider themselves lucky to have one meal a day or even a pair of shoes to wear in the winter. Residents of Langkloof do not receive help from the government and the village suffers from an 80% unemployment rate. Without substantial income, members of this rural community lack medical care and many necessary amenities such as running water, electricity, and clothing.
Florida Chapter Hi my name is Ryan Amoils, and since I was 5 years old, I have been taking trips to see my grandparents in South Africa. While on vacation, I always made sure there was time to visit the kids at the Village of Langkloof. Langkloof is a small impoverished village three hours from Johannesburg where there was no running water, electricity or basic human needs. As a young kid I really did not understand how fortunate I was, and was just happy to be playing soccer with all the young kids on the dirt roads. Little did I realize that most of the children at Langkloof were orphans whose parents had died of AIDS. I noticed that most of the kids did not even have shoes or clothing. On my next visit my family and I brought all my old soccer cleats, clothing and anything I could fit in my suitcase. The smiles on the kid’s faces when they received the clothing and shoes was something that I will remember for the rest of my life. With my sisters Danielle and Hannah, and cousins Ethan and Tyler Gale, we have now formed the Florida Chapter of H.O.P.E. As Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” We have started to create awareness for the kids of H.O.P.E by selling H.O.P.E bracelets in school and around our neighborhoods. We are trying to educate people and create an awareness about H.O.P.E. We are planning many fundraising ventures for the Village of Langkloof. On my most recent visit, the summer of 2013, I was happy to be back, to see the smiles on the kid’s faces in the Village of Lankgloof. During the year I was able to gather cleats and old Miami Country Day School soccer jerseys to bring to the village to form the Lankgloof High School soccer team. It was an awesome experience presenting the jerseys to the team and being able to jump into a full game in front of the entire high school community. I realized how through the game of soccer we were all able to connect, it didn’t matter where we came from. I believe that together we can make the world a better place, and as the Zulu proverb says “Holding Hands We Move Forward Together” , and so we hold hands and help those less fortunate than ourselves.
