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Game on in Haiti, thanks to generosity

Doctor's son brings soccer gear to needy

By: Kevin Rollason

Posted: 10/2/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

A program, run by Daniel Plourde, second from left, helps outfit Haitians for soccer. (SUPPLIED PHOTO)

Winnipegger Dr. Pierre Plourde may have annually gone to help sick people in Haiti for the last six years, but it's his 17-year-old son who is becoming better-known there.

That's because Daniel is not only better at kicking a soccer ball than his dad, but because he sparked a program that is now in the fourth year of donating used soccer equipment to children, youth and adults in the impoverished country.

"It is pretty neat," Daniel, a Grade 12 student at Kelvin High School, said recently.

"There is kind of a dirt space and that's where the kids would set up two makeshift nets made out of sticks and string. At the end of the week we were there one of them asked if I could bring down soccer stuff to them. I thought that was a great idea."

Daniel said the first year they brought 25 soccer balls with them and two sets of team jerseys. The next year they brought even more equipment to the country whose national sport is soccer.

"He has tons more credibility points than me," Dr. Plourde says laughing.

"It's good because I can't play soccer for beans."

Called Kick-In for Haiti, the project Daniel began is now supported by the Winnipeg South End United Soccer Club, Staples and Home Depot. Plourde, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority's medical officer of health and medical director of travel health and tropical medicine, said they give guidelines to the 10 volunteer medical staff travelling with him to not only help the sick, but the soccer program.

"We use our luggage allowance," he said.

"Every team member is told to pack one suitcase with 30 pounds of belongings. We add 20 pounds and then give them another suitcase filled. You might be carrying medicine or you might have soccer gear."

Plourde first went to Haiti in 1982 when he was still a medical student.

"The conditions were terrible," he said.

"I wouldn't say if I'd known what it was going to be like I wouldn't have done it, but I was blissfully ignorant."

Plourde said he saw diseases on a daily basis there that are controlled by childhood vaccinations here, including measles and rubella.

"It continues to be the worst country in this hemisphere. No country comes anywhere near them. But 95 per cent of the people are fun-loving people. They are living in a hellish environment.

"And they're not asking for a ticket to Canada. They're saying come and help us."

Plourde is proud his son is filling a need for the people -- and also helping the medical team.

"He works in the pharmacy filling prescriptions. He works like a dog during the day and then he throws a soccer ball out and starts playing with the kids."

Jim Rurak, general manager of the WSEU, said they're happy to support the cause.

"It makes us feel good that we can chip in and help people in a less advantaged area," Rurak said.

"Any type of soccer equipment is needed -- socks, shoes, balls and uniforms. They're also looking at helping out the adult players, too.

"So far we've seen a lot of shoes and shin pads for younger people. They're the kind of things you outgrow before you wear them out. It's the adults who wear them out so their equipment is tougher to get."

Donations of soccer equipment will be accepted at the WSEU office, at 8-10 McGillivray Place, until Oct. 31. For more information, call 452-8020 or email aknock@mts.net

Donations can also be dropped off at the soccer district playoffs at the Grant Park fields on Oct. 3, and the BMO National Club Championships at the Waverley Wilkes Soccer Complex from Oct. 7 to 12.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 2, 2009 A9

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