Sports tape or food – Hard choices behind bright smiles for Haitian women

"Big Sister" Ednie Limage

by Kara McDermott, Vancouver

Ednie Limage had to waddle limp over to the sideline, but once in front of us she was as open and jolly as if she hadn’t crumpled to the turf in the 62nd minute of their first match against Canada on Thursday and had spent the rest of her subsequent time in the hospital unable to move her legs.

As she joked with us – “How are you feeling?” “I’m a rock, I can say that. I know that. Not to brag.” – it became clear just how much the Haiti team uses her as a rallying point.

Outside midfielder Kimberly Alexis Boulos said of her,

“Besides being such a great player on the field and such a leader, she takes care of all of us. She’s like the big sister to everybody on the team. I think once we saw how much she wanted to be out of the hospital and out with us, it just made us realize how lucky we were to be there and how badly we wanted to play for her.”

As much mental strength and determination that Haiti shows, they are combatting far more than just their opponents on the field. Hard choices have to be made while herre in Vancouver, even after fighting their way back to the Olympic qualifying tournament since their last showing in 2004.

On the morning of their all important match with Canada, the team’s lack of funding lead to the choice between snacks and sports tape.

John May is Prost Amerika’s Vancouver cameraman and covers the Vancouver Whitecaps during the MLS season.

“A friend of ours, Kay, was assisting the Haiti Liaison Officer yesterday and discovered that the team were in a dilemma, whether to buy bananas for a training session snack, or sports tape for their injuries. It turned out that they didn’t have funds for both.

Their meals are covered whilst here, but they don’t have funds for snacks. Apparently, the players are paid $25.00/ Month from their federation, but most live in poverty.”

John and his wife Hazel who is also taking photos of the tournament sympathized with their plight and put together a bag of tape, and toiletries and gave it to their liaison person.

Hopefully, they won’t have to make a choice like that again.

Also see:

John and Hazel May’s Opening Round Photo Gallery

Don’t Knock the Yanks for Winning 14 – 0. Brazil did it too.