A Haitian amputee soccer team, many of whose players lost limbs in the horrific January 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, will bring its game to Stamford in a demonstration match with players from Trinity Catholic High School at 2 p.m. October 20. The public is invited to the event.
Guests at the scrimmage will include Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia, Most. Reverend William E. Lori, Bishop of the Bridgeport Diocese, and Trinity Catholic Principal Tony Pavia.
The “Haitian Inspiration Tour” is also bringing amputee soccer clinics to wounded American soldiers who have lost limbs in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq throughout mid-October.
Members of Team Zaryen, the Haitian soccer team cosponsored by Project Medishare and the Knights of Columbus, will visit the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas from October 14 through October 21. In Washington, they will conduct clinics and training sessions at both Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. and at a DC United practice field at RFK Stadium in Washington. DC United, Washington’s major league professional soccer team, agreed to host several of the Haitian team’s clinics and demonstration matches.
Tens of thousands of people died in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and the American military quickly stepped in to provide emergency relief and provide security when the local government’s ability to provide basic services collapsed. Project Medishare, based at the University of Miami’s medical school, immediately set up a large field hospital near the Port-au-Prince airport and provided around-the-clock emergency medical care for months after the quake. In the aftermath of the quake, the Knights of Columbus joined with Project Medishare to provide prosthetic limbs for every Haitian child who suffered an amputation in the disaster, and the Knights funded construction of a modern prosthetics and orthotics facility at Project Medishare’s Hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince. There, hundreds of children and adult amputees have been provided with prosthetic limbs over the past 18 months.
Team Zaryen was formed after the 2010 earthquake, to help amputees rebuild their lives and to help remove the negative stigma associated with being an amputee in Haitian society. During October, they will share lessons they’ve learned, and their enthusiasm for amputee soccer, with American soldiers who face similar challenges following combat injuries, as well as with the students of Trinity Catholic and the people of Fairfield County.
The Haitian team will scrimmage in Washington with team members from the American Amputee Soccer Association, founded in 1997, which fields teams that compete under the umbrella of the World Amputee Football (Soccer) Federation.
The team will also visit New York City and Stamford. Members of the team believe their example will prove to the young people of Haiti that despite any handicap, there are no limits to what an individual, a team, or a nation can achieve.
Team Zaryen is one of many positive outcomes of the “Healing Haiti’s Children” program co-sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, who have committed more than $1 million to the project, and Project Medishare, which provides the most extensive medical and rehabilitation services for amputees in Haiti. The program provides both prosthetic limbs and a two year course of physical therapy to children who lost a limb in the Haitian earthquake. In addition to helping the children of Haiti, the program has outfitted every athlete on Team Zaryen with prosthetics and a course of therapy and has funded their U.S. tour.
