C-N student Jamison Price, left, serves as director of Refuge FC.
Carson-Newman University students who brought home the plight of third-world poverty through their documentary “Refuge: Children of the Trash” are still reaching the far corners of the world. 但这次他们是在田纳西州的诺克斯维尔(Knoxville)这样做的.
C-N学生贾里德·贝尔彻和贾米森·普莱斯, 还有校友马修·戈塞特和泰勒·乔利, have transitioned the Refuge film success into Refuge FC, a local football (soccer) club for refugees living in the Knoxville area.
Refuge began with a trip to the Philippines which resulted in a 40-minute documentary highlighting the poverty and plight of children living in the third-world country. The film has appeared in churches and private showings throughout the southeast.
Now the team is branching out to humanitarian efforts rather than solely documentary work.
They partner with a local nonprofit, Global SEEDS, dedicated to reaching the needs of refugees.
Belcher said many of the kids already know how to play soccer since the sport is such an international sensation. Refuge FC teaches skill building and life lessons in a fun, community-building environment.
年龄不等, most of the children are from middle Eastern nations and not all speak English fluently.
“很多人说英语，但都是蹩脚的英语，”贝尔彻说. “许多人将在秋季开学. Learning in an American public school will be difficult for them.”
It is also a struggle for the Refuge FC volunteers to find unique ways to communicate as well as bridge the gap between cultures.
Each volunteer undergoes training to learn how to interact and minister to the differing cultures. 总部位于诺克斯维尔的Global SEEDS提供培训.
“Many are dealing with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder),” Belcher said. “They will face enormous barriers with building and maintaining healthy relationships.”
“We follow a set of rules to address some of these difficulties,” he added.
Some of these rules include being very intentional in greetings and farewells so the children won’t mistakenly feel abandoned.
Even volunteers who come for only one of the twice–a-week sessions must pour over information on how to effectively meld cultures.
Belcher said the idea for the football club grew from a desire to continue to reach marginalized and impoverished people but in a way much more hands on than their previous documentary endeavor. Belcher said the Refuge team noticed that they all currently or in the past played soccer, 一项运动, 类似于微笑或大笑的, 被大多数文化所理解.
“创办足球俱乐部似乎很自然，”他说.
他们最近结束了第一届夏季会议, 但贝尔彻表示，他们计划在8月份重新开始. However, Refuge FC has an even broader future than its current Knoxville base.
The team is currently accepting applications for their planned 2014 summer project to Liberia.
This will meld the storytelling of documentary-making with the hands-on ministry of the football club in a country on the cusp of development.
Belcher said that numerous calls from nonprofits came flooding in after the success of their documentary. All wanted to partner with the group of college students.
“We were overwhelmed at first,” the rising college senior said. 但利比里亚的一个联系人引起了该组织的注意.
“利比里亚刚刚结束内战，”贝尔彻说. “To be able to go in and film a people who are not only rebuilding their country but recreating their identity is a huge opportunity.”
The team will bring their Refuge FC model to Liberia as a means to reach the people.
“《全球网赌十大网站》是一个实验，”贝尔彻说. “如果我们有意这么做，会发生什么?”
欲了解更多信息，请访问该团队的网站 fc.refugeinc.com.
