This is my friend, Amine.

Every Sunday and Wednesday, a group of soccer players from all over the world gets together in Durham, NC, to play for a couple of hours.

We are more than players, more than friends. We are a community. We are a family.

Amine has been part of this family for many years, and we always tried to rig the matches so we could play together. Because we hated playing against each other. Or maybe we secretly loved it, because we would always play harder against each other, talking smack the entire game. That's what friends do. But after any day when we'd go too hard, or one of us would get hurt, we'd reach out privately to make sure the other was okay.

When I lost my brother in 2021, who Amine actually worked for briefly, he reached out to share his sorrow with me. Again, we are family.

But Amine hasn't been on the pitch in many months. And we began to wonder what happened. We began to worry.

Finally, he reached out (and I know it was hard to be this vulnerable on the group chat), and told us he had to go back to Morocco because he had been diagnosed with MS. He told us he loved our group, and our games, but he would not be able to play anymore. Of course, we were more than saddened.

When I talked to him privately, he told me he was worried because he had no way of making income, and this was going to be costly.

He would never reach out and ask for this kind of help. But I will. Because, again... we are family.

I'm trying to raise some money to help him start this long journey.

If you know him, you know how high-quality of a person he is. Please consider helping. NO AMOUNT IS TOO SMALL.

My friend is scared and his life has completely changed in a blink.

Do it for the love of the game. Do it for the extended human family.

But please, if you can spare anything, do it for my friend.

Peace and Blessings to All.