Run Until You Fly
My name is Somtochukwu Achebo and I am a current student athlete (Football) at Southern Utah University. Growing up in Nigeria provided me with the opportunity to experience a lot interesting things. Opportunities for kids in Nigeria and most parts of Africa remains minimal until today. Living conditions are also very difficult in Nigeria, and this has affected the future of the children population negatively. One thing that helped me go through the up's and down's, staying off the streets and creating an way out for myself as a young kid in Nigeria was sports. I played soccer, basketball and track and field as a young kid in Nigeria. The major problem I faced as a young athlete and I have seen continue today is the lack of athletic equipment. I competed in all those sports without shoes for most of my childhood and that was really frustrating and discouraging. A lot of kids back in Nigeria still have no shoes, athletic gear, basketballs, soccer balls, spikes, etc. To address this problem, I have organized two shoe/athletic gear drives in the past three years and I have been able to go back to Nigeria and organize clinics for young athletes and provided them with as many sports equipment's as possible. I had over 200-300 kids participate in the camp and it broke my heart to see kids fight for shoes, gear and equipment's because of insufficiency.
I am organizing my 3rd clinic in Asaba, Nigeria in May 2020 and I am pleading to all you lovely and kindhearted people to support my course and help put a smile on the faces of young kids in Nigeria. I want to use the resources I have to help give these kids a reason to keep working hard and striving for greatness.
It will be a camp for about 300 participants and for kids 7-14. It will be a Thursday, Friday and Saturday camp and will go for 4-5 hours daily. The camp will involve a few sessions where resources persons will talk about life, utilizing opportunities, creating opportunities, striving for greatness and other very influential topics. It will also involve session whereby coaches from across the country will teach the kids about basketball, American football and soccer. I am planning on taking one of my teammates that I believe will be a good resource for the kids. I am planning on providing at least a camp polo and socks for each participant. I plan on being able to provide athletic shoes, basketball, soccer cleats, football shoes and other athletic gear for as many participants with the availability of the gear. There will be a refreshment period for participants, coaches and resource persons for the 3 days. I plan on getting the athletic gear from donations from the general public. I will plead to the general public to donate fairly used or new athletic gear to my camp and help provide for most of these kids that have to play barefooted most of the time. I also would love to provide back to school items like notebooks, pencils, water bottles and backpacks for the kids to encourage them to keep up with their education.
Estimated Cost
Flight for Sommy and Judd - $4,000
Rental fee for camp venue for 3 days - $500
Accommodation, feeding and upkeep for the trip for Sommy and Judd - $1,000
Refreshment and music for the camp - $1,000
Transportation of coaches and resources - $500
Cost for camp shirt and socks for campers, resource persons and coaches - $1,000
Back to school items - $1,000
Unaccounted for or miscellaneous expenses - $1,000
Travel documents processing for both of us - $1,000
Bag fees for up to 5 extra bags - $1,000
Total Estimated Cost - $12,000
I believe this will be a very difficult task but I believe it is very achievable. I have been saving up my refund checks from the school to support this course and I am very willing to complete any project or activity to help support this project. I know there are a lot of good and caring people in the U.S that can help me accomplish it. Considering what these kids go through daily and how impactful a camp like this will have in a community like that, especially coming from a son of theirs, I plead for cooperation and help from everyone that can help me accomplish it. Any excess money raised will be donated to orphanages in my community and here in the U.S. All praise to the most high God. Thank you!
