This story is about Cinthia Ramirez Bernal, a woman who recently joined Microsoft Mexico, who wrote to me after reading the GeekWire article, since her life was changed at a young age through basketball.

Here’s Cinthia’s story in her own words:

“I was born on July, 16, 1985 in Guadalajara Jalisco Mexico, to a family of 9, I am number 4. Both my mother and father worked to support us. Being part of a big family my parents really didn´t have a lot of time to be with us. My dad would take me to a YMCA every weekend where he spent hours playing basketball, so I started to practice sports when he was playing with his friends. Sports became my best friend, as I had no space at home so I spent my time outside doing sports. I played tennis, basketball, soccer and did other sports as I grew up. When I entered high school I had to choose one sports because I didn’t have the time to do everything I was trying to do, so I decided to played basketball.

When I was 12 years old I was called to try out for my state basketball team. From that point on, basketball changed my life. My coach from my state team became my mentor and today he is one of my best friends. At the beginning he didn´t believed much in me but with my hard work and commitment that change

When I was in 10^th grade I knew I wanted to play basketball in the USA, but at the time that sounded impossible. My parents didn´t have the money to send me to the USA, so I left with a friend and her family to live in Texas, and they took me in as one of their own. Once in Texas I was invited to attend Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth Texas, It was hard to leave my family when I was 15 years old and I didn’t visit home for almost a year. My English language skills were not the best so I struggled with school but that didn´t stop me; I learned how to study and improved quickly. By my senior year I visited different colleges, I finally decide to sign with The University of Texas Pan American (UTPA). Our head coach, Coach Craft, was hard on me but she taught me so many things that today I appreciate: discipline, hard work, commitment, passion.

My basketball team became my family.  We had this team quote that I will never forget: ONE BODY… because we were part of one. After two years of hard work in my junior year in college, I started 14 games in a row, and my best memory was when we were playing against a better team, South Dakota.  In that tough game I scored the last second, game winning shot.  If felt like all the hard work and sacrifice in a single basket. I was also part of the Mexican national team more than once, and my last basketball tournament was in May 2011 where we won first place in the Centro Basketball tournament in El Salvador.

Throughout all of my basketball experiences, my coaches and teammates have become important and crucial role models in my life. It´s been a long journey and I am so exited of where I am standing now.

If I had never played sports, especially basketball, I am not sure where I would be today. It paid for my education, and I learned lifelong discipline and commitment. Without a sports scholarship I don’t think my parents could afford my education, so I would definitely not be where I am today, working at a company like Microsoft.  Daily, I use the skills and values that I learned through sports, and they have been critical to my success. Focus, team work, passion, responsibility, accountability, self-sacrifice, these are only some of the values that I learned through sports.

What advice would I give to kids in situations like mine?  I recommend to any one that plays any sport to keep up with it – that sometimes it seems too hard or too difficult and people may tell you it is impossible to be successful. But I can tell you from personal experience that if you work hard at it, that it can really happen. Why? Because it happened to me and I just kept doing what I loved and didn´t listen to any negative feedback. So always believe in yourself and don’t give up!”

Thanks so much Cinthia for sharing your story. I know there are lots of girls (and boys!) who will find inspiration from your experience and words of encouragement.  Keep up the great work and positive influence.

Bill

* no, I don’t get any kickbacks if you buy this book   It’s truly a worthwhile read and Rafe (@rafeboogs) is a good dude too – you can read more from him at Grantland as well.

Now, if you haven’t spent time in the Philippines during Christmas, it’s a pretty phenomenal experience.  You would be hard pressed to find a place that feels more like a ‘Winter Wonderland’ full of holiday spirit than the Philippines.  And this is a country that has never seen snow.  Christmas carols can be heard on nearly every street corner, everyone greets each other with ‘Merry Christmas!’, and a real sense of positive energy and excitement can be felt wherever you go.  It sounds really Norman Rockwell idealistic, I get it, but it’s the real thing and it is pretty remarkable to experience.  So hence, *really* big Christmas Villages at the mall.

I think the Christmas Village concept isn’t an accident.  I think the concept is less about building tiny houses with fake snow, little trains and powdered pine trees, and more about representing something that we all long for during Christmastime, a sense of togetherness, of bonding, of community and family and a sense of bigger unity, and being part of something ‘beyond ourselves’.   Ah… too much eggnog for you Mr. Bill you may be thinking, but do a quick search on the Web and you’ll find that these villages started with Nativity scenes (yes, that part of Christmas we sometimes forget!).  But they grew over time: as early as the 19^th century, nativity scenes started adding townspeople and small representations of local buildings.  Many believe that the tradition of building miniature Christmas village landscapes, including houses, animals and other hand-crafted wooden figures, began with the Pennsylvania Dutch in the late 1800s.  In Provence, nativities have long been adding figures representing nearly every member of the community.  In many homes, the village took more time and energy than the decoration of the family Christmas tree.  Trust me, there’s more here than just a tiny miniaturization of some dreamy Christmas village.

How is this related to High Five Hope?  The Christmas Village, in my opinion, is our effort to show that we are connected to something bigger.  Working together as a community and a team is core to what we do at High Five Hope.  It’s not only how we are able to succeed (it really does take a village) but teamwork and being part of something larger than ourselves are key concepts we coach and instruct the kids in our program.  I believe there is direct causality between teamwork, success and happiness – in everything we do, from our families to sports to our community.  One of my favorite quotes from Phil Jackson:

“Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We.”

My Christmas wish for all of you is that you may be filled with the spirit of community, teamwork, and selflessness.  It makes a difference to those around you, and if we all improve just a little in this area, it will make a difference to the broader world.  The next time you see a Christmas Village, I hope that you will think about what it means a little more deeply.  To see the We from the Me.

I’ll leave you with a page from one of the scrapbooks from our 2011 High Five Hope tournament, made by the street children in our program, showing the core values of High Five Hope.

God Bless and Merry Christmas, Bill

I’ve had an incredibly productive week in the Philippines. This is my summary trip report.  We have our 2012 dates locked in Manila and Cebu and we also have initial plans to launch in Davao.  Our goal is to have 2012 be the year when we become ‘nation-wide’, running High Five Hope programs in the major cities of all three primary regions of the Philippines – Luzon,  Visayas, and Mindanao (see map on the right).

In Manila, I met with our great local partner ChildHope, and we walked through our 2012 plans.  We are setting our goal next year to reach over 350 kids in Manila.  After our meeting at Childhope, I spent some time on the streets with the kids, watching education session in the Lawton area, near downtown.  It was raining pretty heavy so class was held under a highway overpass.

The kids were focused and committed, using whatever was handy for school supplies – a rock or brick to sit on, or the wall for a writing surface.  

Many thanks to our wonderful partners at Childhope and all of the amazing people there who commit their life to helping others – Bheng, Rhea, Joey, Christian, Harry, Anna, and many others I’m forgetting, and of course my great friend Ms. Silva, a true inspiration.

I then visited Cebu (Visayas region).  There I had a chance to visit with our local partner Cebu City Task Force for Street Children, and talked about expanding in 2012 to include a volleyball program– which is a big priority for us in Cebu.  With adding the girls volleyball program, and some other kids from outside the city and the boys from Operation Second Chance we are targeting over 450 kids in Cebu!  Huge year over year growth, but I am thrilled with what we are accomplishing in such a short time.  We then travelled to Operation Second Chance, a boy’s prison for teens in conflict with the law.  They are doing amazing positive and rehabilitative work here in helping these boys and keeping them from being thrown, as children, into the normal men’s prison system.

This boy in the blue jersey on the right, Jaymar, is at Operation Second Chance.  A year ago, he was told he’d be paid a hundred pesos (about US$2) if he would take a package from one neighbor to another.  It was a box of clothes, with drugs hidden inside.  He was caught and is now in Operation Second Chance, his case still waiting to be heard.  He was one of the star point guards in the 2011 High Five Hope program at Operation Second Chance.   He asked if we could help him finish high school when he is out.  We’re going to work on a pilot H5H scholarship program in 2012 for kids like Jaymar.  We met another boy who has been in Operation Second Chance three times now, and told us he tries to get caught because being in jail here is better than life on the streets – at least he has food, shelter and protection.  He was a smaller boy, with some sort of skin disease all over his body, and it was heartbreaking to hear a young boy, probably 13 or 14, talk about how he tries to get thrown in jail so he can be safe.

Thank you to my friends in Cebu – it was great spending time with Reden from Cebu City Task Force, Warden Merlinda and my great friends Lane and Anjg.   Coach Calib, sorry we didn’t connect – but I’ll be in touch and hopefully you guys did well in the Champions Tourney!

My next stop was Davao, in the southern part of the Philippines (Mindanao region).  This was my first time here, and it’s a beautiful area.  I had a lunch meeting with two wonderful women, Susabel and Susan, who have great and long established connections in Davao and Mindanao.   It felt like meeting two long lost Aunt’s, they are gregarious, big hearted and hilarious to talk with.  They will help connect us to the right people and programs there so we can start (small) in 2012 in Mindanao.  They had some exciting ideas that we will formulate a plan around; some ways to help that are very specific to this region. 

That afternoon I was able to see my awesome niece Jennifer, who is doing tremendous missionary work in the area.  Jen, you are an inspiration to me and many others!  It was great to see you and I am honored to be your Uncle.  Keep up your work and see you next year!

The next morning I met with Tambayan Center, a non-profit org that has been working in Davao for 15 years.  They primarily serve the welfare and rights of adolescent street girls in Davao City.  After a conversation at their facility about the struggles and crimes that many of these girls live with on a daily basis, we talked immediately about how we can partner together in delivering a High Five Hope program for the 250 girls that they serve.  

Working in a developing country trying to help kids, I often come across stories that would make most people very uncomfortable to hear, but it is part of the reality of this work and this world.  But the stories I heard, and the kids I saw there that day at Tambayan Center, were some of the most tragic I have witnessed, things that most of you would think could not possibly happen in our modern world.  Ms. Edith, who runs the center, and I feel that there is a great match between her organization and High Five Hope.  She also has the perfect attitude and focus: when discussing with her staff what types of sports we should introduce, she said “Let’s just ask the kids what they want to do, not what we think they want to do, let them be part of all the decisions and it will mean a lot more”   I knew we would be a great match instantly.

When we were walking out of Tambayan Center, I was looking at the paintings on the wall that the girls have created.  This one on the left struck me as a little odd, but Ms. Edith explained that they asked the girls to paint ‘where they feel safe’ – and this girl drew the cemetery near the streets where she worked, because that’s the only place that she felt safe to sleep at night.  She is 11 years old and she still sleeps in the crypts of this cemetery each night.

I am looking forward to starting our program in Davao and helping these kids feel even a small bit of hope in their lives.  There are so many challenges with how quickly we are growing, and how much there is still left to do, but sitting there in this center, seeing these kids, I kept thinking of the John Wooden quote: “Do not let what you cannot do get in the way of what you can do”.  Yeah, I’m a basketball nerd, I get it.

Flew back to Manila and spent the morning with more of our High Five Hope boys in Paco.  Patricia Hizon, High Five Hope Board member, arranged for a TV interview (GMA channel sports show called ‘GAME’) while the boys played some 5-on-5.  I taught them how to play ‘bump’ and they had a lot of fun once they figured it out.  I neecd to learn Tagalog for “get your own rebound!”   Some of the boys who will turn 18 next year asked what we can do to help them after they are out of the program (we stop at age 17), and again we had more discussions about the H5H scholarship concept that we will pilot in 2012.  Lots to do on how we implement this, how we raise funds, how we carefully manage progress at the student level, etc., but it’s clearly a key next step for us.  We wrapped up with a discussion about the High Five Hope values and then the kids had some McDonald’s courtside.  Was a perfect way to finish the trip.

This was a great visit, with a lot accomplished for next year and the future.  It was also deeply emotional for me.  Spending this time with so many of our current (and future) High Five Hope kids reminds and rekindles why we are doing this.  There were times during this visit that my emotions ranged from concern to how we can expand this quickly, to elation in seeing some of our multiyear program kids doing so well, to breaking down in tears hearing about the horrors some of these amazing children are going through right now.   But that’s why we are here.

Music always seems timely… I was listening on ‘random’ on the flight from Davao to Manila yesterday, trying to clear my mind, and it seemed a little more than circumstantial this came up on the playlist… from ‘The Cave’ by Mumford & Sons:

And I will hold on hope, And I won’t let you choke
On the noose around your neck.
And I’ll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I’ll know my name as it’s called again

Till next time.  Merry Christmas, God Bless, and may we all hold on to hope, for ourselves, for our families and particularly for those without.     Bill

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.  It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost”.

Keep up the great work Coach Hurley, you are a true modern hero in my book. You inspire me and many others in how you serve.

I saw this quote while watching The Philosopher Kings on my flight to Hong Kong last night. In many ways this quote reflects what we are trying to do with High Five Hope.  Our program isn’t to develop better athletes, but rather it’s to create opportunities — “windows” or “doors” — where these kids in severe and desperate situations can see what a positive future might look like.  That’s the essence of hope, in my mind.

As you go about your day or evening, think about what your ‘one moment’ was, when the door opened, and you could see a hopeful, positive future.   Then think about what or who made that possible.  Have a great Tuesday, Bill

For quite some time we have been working to bring a new online experience to you which showcases the children in our program, that better explains what we do, and that deeply engages the social networks and communities.  Like everything we do at High Five Hope, it truly takes a village of passionate and remarkable people to turn ideas into reality.  Our good friends Joseph Debons, Chris McElroy and Brad Hackleman, Jason Valles and Katrina Bethards (from the awesome ThirdFloor Media) literally brought our ideas to life.  Their passion and commitment to making this happen was simply amazing.   Thank you so much!

But today is just a beginning.  We will use this new design and platform to bring High Five Hope to life and to more deeply connect with all of you in the broader High Five Hope family.  We believe — and have multiple years of evidence — that we have a winning formula that has made real and lasting impact to the lives of the children in our program.  Our program grows as our community grows.  As you share with your friends, as you ‘like’, as you send, as you tweet, and as you donate.  Each of these takes us a step forward, and helps us reach more children in truly desperate need.

Be part of a life changing team.  Let’s make tomorrow a great day together.

Bill