Tacloban City - FundLife International entered Tacloban six months following Super Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013. After the immediate relief and recovery effort, there was a need to rebuild homes and infrastructure, but moreover, there was a need to restore hope, a sense of identity and belonging to the children who almost lost everything. There was a need to restore childhood.
Football for Life (F4L), has been delivering 'play' sessions through football and futsal across communities in Tacloban, and regularly reaches 100 children each week.
In light of the recent 3rd year anniversary of Typhoon Yolanda, FundLife hosted a whole day intersite futsal tournament on November 13, 2016 (Sunday) at RTR Plaza.
The tournament gathered F4L teams coming from 8 different sites namely Fisherman’s, Caibaan, Sagkahan, Abucay, Anibong, San Isidro, New Kawayan and RTR, and it also included a team from CIE British International School where we have also been regularly delivering football sessions for the past months.
F4L players from each location have been competing in a league throughout the week prior to the tournament, with the top team from each site advancing to the finals on Sunday to compete for the championship title.
​The Abucay team was able to defend their F4L Copa Tacloban championship title and emerged as back-to-back champions after an intense finals game against New Kawayan, ending in a penalty shoot-out. Despite their loss to Abucay, it wasn’t all sad for New Kawayan team, as they too went home as champions for the poster-making contest organized by the coaches along with the football games during that day. The posters made by each F4L site showcased how much has the program helped them after Typhoon Yolanda, with New Kawayan team getting commendation from FundLife’s Founder and Executive Director, Marko Kasic, for the relevance to the theme and creativity shown in the poster they’ve worked on as a team in between their games.
More than just a day of gathering F4L players from different locations to enjoy an intersite tournament, it has also been a day for everyone to commemorate the anniversary of Typhoon Yolanda, and be reminded of the hope that awaits them years after the storm devasted their city.
Three years on, FundLife, as an organization, still continues to bring hope and joy to the lives of children who need it most. ​~
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