Play to Heal Kit ($75)

Mercy Corps believes that athletic fields and playgrounds can host innovative and effective approaches to post-trauma recovery. In the aftermath of disaster and war, we've helped children heal their emotional wounds by using sports and games overseen by trained coaches who follow a tried-and-tested curriculum.

Why Help Is Needed

Natural disasters and armed conflict can inflict a devastating toll on a child’s emotional well-being. Children are resilient, but the emotional scars from displacement, destruction and death can last a lifetime. Structured group activities that center on sports and games are effective for post-trauma recovery.

Mercy Corps In Action

Mercy Corps offers sports-based recovery programs for children affected by earthquakes in Peru and China, and is ready to respond to the next emergency. The Play to Heal Kit covers the cost of materials for two dozen kids and an adult mentor, including a caregiver manual, paper and markers, whistles and cones, and sport-appropriate equipment like badminton racquets, soccer balls or Frisbees.

Yesabel's Story

Children are certainly resilient, but the destruction and displacement caused by natural disasters can nonetheless leave deep and lasting scars.

Eighty percent of the homes in Yesabel's small coastal village collapsed during Peru's August 2007 earthquake. Like most of the 40,000 homes flattened by the 7.9-magnitude tremor, these were constructed of mud bricks — an indication of the region's poverty.

Yesabel relieved some anxiety through a program called "Moving Forward," an effort by Mercy Corps, Nike and CARE to use sports to help youth recover from trauma. In Peru, two dozen coaches and teachers were trained as mentors. Using sports such as soccer, volleyball and dance, these mentors helped more than 300 children cope with the psychosocial stress that follows losing homes and schools and living in tents or crowded shelters.

After the quake, Yesabel says she worried about her family, her schoolwork and life in general. "Now," she says, "I worry about soccer." It's one sign that life is returning is normal.

Play to Heal Kit ($75)
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Purchase of a Mercy Kit is a symbolic gift that supports Mercy Corps' worldwide programs to help children and families in need. The Breastfeeding Kit, Climate Change Kit, Fuel-Efficient Stove Kit, Cricket Farm Kit, Send an Orphan to School Kit, Plant a Tree Kit, Play to Heal Kit and Uganda Farm Kit supports those specific project funds. Proceeds from the sale of other Mercy Kits will be used where most needed.