For many of us, getting together on a Saturday to play a friendly soccer game against another team from across town may seem like no big deal. However, in Bujumbura, Burundi, this is not so common. Years of civil war and ethnic conflicts have created rifts and tension that is much different than most of us experience. Imagine that the team you are facing was considered to be an enemy just a few years (or weeks) ago...

Now through a simple game of soccer you discover that the rift between you was fiction.

We are working to close the rifts and erase the tension by organizing youth soccer tournaments that bring neighbors together, build a community and plant a message of peace deep inside these neighborhoods. We use the common language of sport to set a stage for reconciliation, understanding and hope.

We hope and pray that the communities and relationships built through the Amahoro (it means "peace" in Kirundi) tournaments will help set a foundation for further advances in education, poverty alleviation, physical and spiritual care, and human rights improvements in Burundi.